The Early Witnesses ; 

Or, 

Piety and Preaching 

Of the 

Middle Ages. 

By 

JOSEPH p. THOMPSON, D.D. 

New- York : 
Anson D. F. Randolph, 683 Broadway. 
1857. 



■BY4'?oi 
,T5 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year ISoT, by 

ANSON D. F. KANDOLPH, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for 
the Southern District of New- York. 



' THEO 




JAN i'.V iyi)8 



John A. Gray. Printer and Stereotype?', 
16 & 18 Jacob St., Fire-Proof Buiklings. 



96 3 



INTRODUCTION. 



The more careful study of the Middle Ages hy theolo- 
gians and scholars of the ^present day^ has done much to 
dispel the notion of the absolute and unmitigated dark- 
ness of those ages which has been traditionary in evan- 
gelical Christendom since the Reformation. While this 
study has in some instances revived a tendency to Rubric- 
ism and in others to Pietism^ it has also contributed to 
more just and healthy views of the progress and results 
of Christianity in the world, and especially in Europe. 
That theory of Development^^ which makes the Mediceval 
and Romish types of Christianity necessary to the full 
unfolding of the kingdom of Christ, is contrary to the 
whole philosophy of the New Testament ; yet on the other 
handj that is a narroiu view of history and of Christ's 



A* 



6 



IKTRODUCTION. 



spiritual hingdom^ lohich regards the ivJioIe jperiod from 
the Council of Nice to the Reformation as a Uanh and 
waste in the religious life of Europe, We make too much 
relatively of Luther ; too little of that ever-watchful Pro- 
videncCj that ever-presefit Spirit^ which even in the dark- 
est times kept alive the faith and doctrine of the Gospel. 
Even in the darkest apostasy of Israel there were seven 
thousand who had not lowed the knee to Baal, though 
the persecuted prophet who had fled into the wilderness for 
his life^ cried out : ''ij even / only am left jealous for the 
Lord of Hosts y So ivhen the monk of Erfurth lifted up 
his voice of loarning^ and heard at first hut its solitary 
echo, there loere yet thousands upon thousands who had 
not lowed the knee to the image of the Beast, nor received 
his mark in their foreheads. 

Isaac Taylor argues with much force that Monasticism 
is in its very nature destructive of evangelical piety ; and 
that the lest types of piety formed upon the ascetic prin- 
ciple are loanting in the evangelical element, especially as 
regards the nature of sin and the relation of the atonement 
to the forgiveness of sin. He discriminates loith great 
clearness and force, letween the ascetic vieiu of sins as a 
score to he wiped out ly penance,^^ and the evangelical 
view of ''sin, in a spiritual sense^ as the ohject of the 



I^^TEODUCTIOX. 



divine disijleasure and he argues that the former view 
obtained und^r the ascetic 'pietism to the exclusion of 
evangelical doctrines and feelings. Indeed, this search- 
ing luriter regards the defection of the Nicene era as so 
deplorable, that he affirms that Romanism was a reform 
or a correction of the Nicene church system luhich he 
regards as a fanatical debauchery, a baptized Pagan- 
ism,^^ a combination of the Buddhist, or abstractive, 
i and the Braminical, or penitential principles,'^ in the 
ascetic institute which tlicn prevailed in the Church.'^ 

As a general view of the type of piety under Monasti- 
cism, this is sound and philosophical ; and it is confirmed 
by history. But individual men are sometimes better 
far than the systems in tuhich they luere trained. And 
as in the time of Christ, amid the prevailing ignorance 
I and superstition of the Jewish people and the hypocrisy 
\ of their teachers, there were yet found a Mary and a 
Joseph, a Zachariah and an ElizcLbeth, an Anna and a 
j Simeon, so luere there instances of simple living faith in 
I Christ amid the gross perversions of Medioivcd Christi- 
anity. 

I The researches of Neander have shown us what he has 

I 

I * Ancient ChristianUy, t'ol. 1, p. 1T6; vol. 2, pp. 69 and. 129. 
1 London Edition. 



8 



lOTEODUCTION. 



appropriately styled '''•light in the dark places^ ' — a living 
Christianity^ an evangelical faith^ an active^ practical 
piety — in Northern Africa^ in Germany^ Italy ^ France^ 
and Britain^ through all th& ages from the fifth to the 
fifteenth century. The works of Emile de Bonnchose 
and of Ullmann have made us acquainted with many 
^'Reformers hefore the Reformation'^ — Huss^ Jerome of 
Prague^ John of Goch^ John of Wesel, John Wessel — 
whose faith and courage^ whose zeal and purity^ entitle 
them to he considered the peers of the Reformers of the 
sixteenth century ^ as they were ihe pioneers and the pro- 
phets of their work. Milman^ in his '^History of Latin 
Cliristianity Hardivicke, in his '-'' History of the Christ- 
ianChurch in the Middle Age f' Grieseler^ and others who 
have made this period their study ^ (to mention only such 
as are accessible to ihe English reader^) have produced 
many notable examples of the vital power of Christianity 
in the ^^Age of Darkness^ These researches show ^ that 
lohen the Protestant is asked, Where was your Church 
hefore Luther he does not need fa search for the flock 
of God in the fastnesses of the Waldensian Mountains ; 
but piercing the veil of Ecclesiasticism, he points to Euge- 
nius of Carthage, to Germanics ofAuxerre and Ccesarius 
of Aries, to the venerable Bede, to Boniface the Apostle 



USTTRODUCTION-. 



9 



and Gregory the Ahhot^ to Peter Dcuniani, to Anselno 
and Aelredj to Hildehert^ to Peter of Blois and Antony 
of Padua^ and to the many of luhom these were the 
representatives; — he points to these^ and says: ^''In all 
ages the foundation of the Lord standeth sure ; in all 
ages the Lord hath hnoion them that were His, Not in 
hierarchies nor in councils^ not in cathedrals nor in ritual 
pomps, hut in these living, believing, praying soids is 
found fulfilled in every age the promise of the Master, 
Lo ! I am luith you alway, even to the end of the worlds 
Such discoveries of living piety amid surrounding 
death, strengthen our faith in the perpetual vitality of tlie 
Gospel, and in the promise of the Redeemer that against 
i His spiritual kingdom the powers of earth and the gates 
of hell shoidd never prevail They also enlarge our cha- 
rity for those who, through adverse circumstances and 
loith manifold errors and imperfections, have yet che- 
rished the love of Christ ; and they exalt our admiration 
of those tvho hy that love have triumphed over the dark- 
ness and the loichedness of their times. The increasing 
number of such lohom the study of the Middle Ages has 
brought to light, luarrants the belief that in all the centu- 
ries of the Christian era an unnumbered midtitude have 
lived and died in, the faith of the Lamb. 



10 INTEODUCTION". 

A most valuable contribution to our knowledge of the 
Christianity of the Middle Ages has been lately made, by 
the publication of a volume of extracts from the sermons 
of that period, translated by the Rev. J. M. Neale, Warden 
of Sachville College. This work ewJbraces selections from 
twenty-one preachers, covering a period of ten centuries. 
Many of the sermons are characterized by a fullness^ even 
an exuberance, of Biblical illustration ; by the f&rvor and 
pathos of appeals drawn from the sufferings of Christ j 
by the simplicity and earnestness of faith, as seen espe- 
cially in descriptions of the future glory of the saints ; 
by the vividness and aptness of their illustrations 
from passing events ; and in the main by a clear and 
effective popular style. There is much in them that is 
fanciful, and even grotesque, in the allegorical or the 
mystic interpretation of Scripture; but there , is also 
many a gem of Christian thought and feeling sparkling 
amid these fanciful and outre settings, and the heart is 
quickened and cheered by communion with saints who, 
in ages long consigned to ignorance and superstition, did 
humbly walk with God, and maintain so much of the 
purity and life and power of the Gospel. 

With a view to bring this quickening influence of de- 
parted saints into contact luith Christians of the present 



INTEODUCTIOiSr. 



11 



generation^ this little volume of selections has been made^ 
mainly from the materials furnished hy Mr. Neale, To 
that gentleman helongs the entire credit of the original 
selection and translation. The American editor has hut 
culled passages fi^om his more copious extracts^ and added 
to these a few from other sources^ chiefly through Nean- 
der. But the objects of the two volumes are quite differ- 
ent. Mr. Neale' s booJc is designed to furnish specimens 
of preaching in the Middle Ages : the object of this little 
book is to furnish a Manual of pious meditations, selected 
from the preachers of those ages. Hence the editor has 
scrupulously ruled out from it whatever was fanciful or 
singidar in the interpretation or the illustration of Scrip- 
ture^ and has selected only such sentiments as accord 
tuith the common faith of evangelical Christians. 

The selections are topically arranged ; but in the mar- 
gin is given the name of each author ^ loith the years of 
his birth and his death, or a proximate date. The term 
^''Middle Ages''' is somewhat vaguely used by the best 
writers. Some restrict it to the period from the eighth 
to the fifteenth century^ or midioay between the decline of 
the Roman Empire and the revival of letters in Europe. 
But Mr. Hallam^ loho must be acknowledged a good 
authority J comprises in the Middle Ages the ten centuries 

^ : : 



12 



INTRODUCTIOJSr. 



from tlie fifth to the fifteenth^ or from the invasion of 
France hy Clovis to that of Naples hy Charles VIIL^ 

The names embraced in the following selections are 
mainly included luithin these limits. A brief account of \ 
each luriter is here subjoined^ in chronological order. 
These selections should not convey the imp7'ession that 
all the sermons of the preachers quoted luere marked 
by the tone and style of the extracts here given. There is 
much in the sermons of all luho are represented in this 
little volume^ luhich would be offensive to the taste and the 
religious sentiment of our times. The selections are made 
chiefly with a view to the edification of " all that in every 
place call upon the name of Jesus Chr ist our Lord^ 

Patrick of Ireland. This Apostle of the Irish luas 
born A.D. 372, in a village of Scotland^ near Glasgoiu, 
originally called Bonaven, but afterward KilpatricJc. At 
the age of seventeen he was Mdnapped hy a hand of 
pirates^ and sold into slavery in Ireland^ where he ivas 
employed as a herdsman. This great calamity made 
effectual to his soul the truths of the Bihle, luhich his 
pious father had taught him. 

After six years he made his escape from captivity. 



* Middle Ages^ chap. 9. 



INTEODUCTIOISr. 



13 



{ Bat being deeply affected at the condition of the pagan 
i Irisli^ lie seemed^ like PauJ^ to hear one crying in a 
vision^ ^^Qome over and help iis^ In the year 431 he 
■ luent to Ireland as a missionary of the cross. He had 
\ entire command of the Irish language^ and he ivoiold 
I gather multitudes together hy the heat of a drum^ and 
preach to them in the open air. He encountered much 
' opposition from the Druids ; hut the doctrines of the 
' Gospel tooJc effect upon the hearts of the people^ and Ire- 
land luas Christianized. He lived to a greai age^ and 
' died full of faith and of good fruits. 
\ CiESARius OF Arles was hom in France^ in the dis- 
trict of Qhalons-sur-Saone^ A.D. 470. At an early agp 
, he entered a convent in Provence^ then distinguished for 
I the practical piety of its inmates. Ccesarius ivas re- 
\ marJcahle for his devotion to the rules of the convent^ hut 
I still more for his spirit of deep and earnest piety. As a 
\ preacher^ he loas noted for his zeal and earnestness for 
the spiritual good of men. He opposed the superstitions 
and delusions of his time, especially ivith regard to the 
miracles of saints. He labored to turn the thoughts of 
I his hearers from the outward and material to the imvard 
I and spiritual 

\ In 502 he urns chosen Bishop of Aries. In his official 



15 



14 



INTRODUCTTOK". 



relations he luas characterized hy simplicity and purity 
of life^ henevolence toward the poor^ and fidelity in en- 
forcing upon his clergy the duties of their calling. His 
vieivs of the sinfulness of man, and of the grace of God 
in Christ, were in fuU accordance with the Gospel. He 
died A.D. 542. 

G-REGORY THE GrREAT, calUd the father of the Medi- 
ceval Papacy, was horn of .a nohle family of Rome, about 
A.D. 540. Having a marlted talent for secular affairs, 
he early attained to the dignity of Governor of Rome. 
But on the death of his father ^ about A.D. 575, he re- 
nounced his secular life, and employed his vast fortune 
ill foundAng monasteries and in blessing the poor. He 
himself was made Abbot of the monastery of St. Andrew 
in Rome, which became famous for the miracles said to 
be wrought within its luaUs. 

One day, seeing in the marhet-place of Rome some 
fair-haired Saxon boys for sale as slaves, the kind- 
hearted Abbot was fired with zeal for the conversion of 
Britain, and woidd have set out upon a mission to that 
remote and barbarous island, had not the people with 
one voice detained him in Rome. Soon after, he tuent 
to Constantinople on the public service, and oil his re- 
turn ivas chosen Pope, A.D. 590, by the unanimous voice 



INTRODUCTIOlSr. 



15 



of the senate^ the clergy^ and the people. As Pope^ he 
took active measures for the conversion of Britain. He 
retained much of his personal humility^ hut he zealously 
sought the aggrandizement of the Western Church. The 
Emperor Phocas, to whom he offered adulation un- 
worthy of a Christian^ recognized him as the universal 
hishopj and from that point the Church of Pome became 
for ten centuries the centre of the Christian world. 

Though Gregory was credulous and in some things 
fanatical^ he yet insisted^ even when Pontiffs upon the 
supreme authority of the Scriptures^ and the need of in- 
ward regeneration and sanctification. When we pray 
for everlasting life with the mouth," he said, and do 
not desire it in the heart, our cry is a silence. If tve 
long for it out of the abundance of the heart, our silence is 
a cry, which does not reach human ears, yet fills the hid- 
den ear of GodJ^ 

Gregory died A.D. 604, greatly beloved and greatly 
lamented. Milman says of him: '-^Gregory, not from 
his station alone, but by the acknowledgment of the ad- 
miring world, was intellectually, as well as spiritually, 
the great model of his age.^^^ 



* Latin Christianity^ vol. 1, p, 464. 



16 INTEODUCTIOX. 

Eligius, Bishop of ISToyes, ivas horn at Chateldt^ in 
France^ A.D. 588. His mother luas eminent for piety ^ 
and he luas ivell instructed in the Gospel. While work- 
ing at his trade^ that of a goldsmith, he ahcays kept the 
Bible lying open hefore him. His extraordinary honesty 
and fidelity in his trade toon for him the patronage of 
the Franhish king Clotaire II., and he hecame the court 
jeweler. In this position, he might have enjoyed wealth 
and luxury ; hut he dressed plainly, and gave largely of 
his income to the poor. Being hent upon religious du- 
ties, after the manner of the times he founded a monas- 
tery. But he did oiot shut himself up within its walls : 
he went ahout preaching the Gospel, especially among 
heathen trihes. In his sermons he dwelt much upon ^Hhe 
necessity of true sanctification, in distinction from a mei^e 
outward historical faith, and an outward ceremonial^ 

In 641 he ivas elected Bishop of Noyes, and he faith- 
fully discharged the arduous duties of his office until his 
death in 659. 

The Venerable Bede, known as England's Teacher, 
ivas horn A.D. 672, at Jarrow, in the extreme north of 
England. At an early age he was placed under the care 
of the ahhot of the neighhoring monastery of Wearmouth. 
When the monastery of Jarrow was founded, he entered 



IXTKODUCTIOIS'. 



17 



that^ and spent Ms long and peaceful life mainly in 
translating the Bihle into the Saxon tongue. 

^^The maimer of his death corresponded to his life^ 
consecrated in quiet activity to God. Even his dying 
hours were devoted to the great work of his life^ the in- 
struction of youth ; and he expired in the midst of his 
beloved scholars, May 26, 735."* 

In his last sickness, he luas engaged in translating the 
Gospel of John into Anglo-Saxon. He continued to dic- 
tate to his scholars until the day of his death. A little 
while before his departure, he said : ^'The time of my 
deliverance draweth nigh. I desire to depart and to be 
with Christ ; for my soul longs to see my King, Christ, 
in his beauty. 

Boniface, sometimes called Winifred, the Apostle of 
Germany, tuas born at Crediton, in Devonshire, Eng- 
land, A.D. 680. Neander thus descrihes his conversion: 
^^It is remarkable in the history of the first training of 
Boniface, that the germs of religion luere early developed 
in his heart. The custom had been retained in England, 
from the days of the first pious Irish missionaries, of 
the clergy visiting the houses of the laity, and giving ex- 



* Neanrler^ v. 197. 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

hortations to their families on religious subjects. The 
hoy used attentively to listen on these occasions^ and they 
gladly conversed with him on matters of religion. His 
father sought to repress his inclination for a religious 
life^ for he had destined him for a distinguished place in 
the luorld. But as is so frequently the case^ this disposi- 
tion of mind only gained the more strength the more his 
father endeavored to repress it, and the father was at 
length moved hy a severe sichiess to yield to his son's in- 
clination. Boniface educated himself in many famous 
English convents, ivhere he became especially learned in 
the Holy Scriptures, which were hereafter to serve him 
as a light on his way amongst the uncivilized nations. 
His spirit was indeed cramped hy many prejudices, 
which hindered him from perceiving the pure doctrine 
of the Scriptures, and which must necessarily have hin- 
dered his subsequent missionary labors ; for the purer 
and freer Christianity is, the less darkened hy human 
work, the more easily can it penetrate into the hearts of 
men, the more easily the divine power of attraction in it 
is preserved in all situations. ^^"^ 

The example of these early missionaries, to whom he 



* LifjM ill Dark Places, p. 218. 



INTKODUCTIOJS". 



19 



owed his own enlightenment^ incited him to undertake a 
mission to Germany. Here he labored among the pa- 
gans with great fidelity and success^ and was made arch- 
bishop of the German Church. He greatly prized the 
Scriptures J and though much restrained hy his regard for 
church authority^ his views of religion ivere in the main 
just and spiritual. In his seventieth year he undertook 
a mission to Friesland, and there fell a martyr hy pagan 
hands, A.JD. 755. 

Hrbanus Maurus was horn at Mayence, or Mentz, 
A.D. 776. He was educated at the monastery of Fulda, 
of ivhich he subsequently became Abbot. His reputation 
as a scholar gave to this monastery a wide renoiun. 
Here Maurus wrote and taught for twenty years. His 
luorks on scholastic theology were voluminous, and in 
their time quite celehrated. He composed homilies for 
the common people in their vernacular, made up chiefly 
of extracts from the Fathers. He was eminent for his 
charities to the poor, especially in the great famine of 850. 

In 847, luhen seventy years of age, he was made Arch- 
bishop of Mentz. He luas warmly opposed to Goits- 
chalh's doctrine of ^Hwo-fold predestination,^^ and labored 
to reconcile the existence of evil loith the divine predes- 
tination, luithout imputing to God the causality of sin. 



20 



lOTKODUCTIOI^. 



His treatment of Ms opponent^ ivhen he came into power ^ 
though prompted hy a zeal for truth, evinced too little of 
the spirit of Christ. He died February 4, 856. 

Peter Damiani was horn at Ravenna, in Italy, A.D. 
1007. A monk of the strictest sect, he hecame Ahhot of 
Fonte Avellano in Umbria. He first became conspicu- 
ous hy the presentation to Leo IX. of a hook exposing 
with great coarseness and severity the vices of the clergy, 
and urging with strange inconsistency the prohibition 
of marriage to all in the service of the Church. He pro- 
tested sternly against Leo's military expedition to subdue 
the Normans. 

In 1057 Pope Stephen IX. made Damiani Cardinal 
of Ostia. As Legate of the Pope, he attempted to enforce 
at Milan the decree of Rome against the marriage of the 
clergy. The clergy of Milan asserted their independence, 
and excited a popidar tumult. Damiani, at the per il of 
his life, mounted the pulpit, quieted the mob, and hy his 
eloquence and authority brought the recusant Archbishop 
Q-uido to sit upon a stool at his feet. His command 
over a popular assembly was great ; but most of his ser- 
mons luhich have come down to us, luere prepared for an 
audience of moiiks. There is a strange union of energy 
and gentleness in his discourses. 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

Through life Damiani labored strenuously for the re- 
storation of ecclesiastical order and a general reformation 
of the Church. In a letter to Gregory FZ, he entreated 
him to piot a stop to crying abuses j and especially to 
simony. He^ however^ zealously defended self-flagellation 
as a penance^ which he vehemently practiced. Yet with 
all his austerity^ he accuses himself of disposition to 
laughter, as a besetting sin. He withstood the self- 
aggrandizement of the ambitious and wary Hildebrand. 
After a long life of conflict^ this John the Baptist died at 
Faenza^ February 22, 1072. 

Anselm, sometimes styled ^^the holyl^'' was born in 
Piedmont^ in 1032. After fUling for some years the 
abbacy of Bec^ he removed to England in 1093, where 
he was made Archbishop of Canterbury. He attained 
much distinction as a theologian^ and delighted in specu- 
lations upon the a priori proof of the being of God. His 
extant sermons are mostly recondite expositions of the 
Gospel for the day. 

Falling into a controversy with the Mng about the 
prerogatives of the Churchy he luas banished from Eng- 
landj but afterwards returned^ and died in his see A.D. 
1109. He was a man of sincere piety ^ and of much 
sweetness blended with firmness. 



22 INTRODUCTION". 

Ives of Chartres was horn in the BeauvoislSj A.D. 
1040. He studied at Bee, and became a famous doctor 
of the Canon Law. In 1091 he was made Bishop of 
Chartres. He was remarhahle for moral courage, and 
the conscientious discharge of duty. This trait was strik- 
ingly displayed in his contrmersy with Philip, King of 
France. That monarch, like Henry VIII., repudiated 
his lawful wife, in order to marry a woman who had 
forsaken her hushand. Upon this transaction, Neander 
observes : ''He found bishops cowardly and mean enough 
to serve as the instruments of his will. But the truly 
pious bishop Ives of Chartres, a prelate distinguished for 
the conscientious administration of his pastoral office, 
accustomed boldly to speak the truth to princes and 
popes, and zealous in contending for the purity of morals 
as well as the sacred tenure of the marriage covenant, 
was of another mind. When invited to attend the King's 
wedding, he declared he could not consent to do so, until, 
by a general assembly of the French Church, the laivfid- 
ness of his separation from his first wife, and of the new 
marriage, had undergone a fair investigation. ' Where- 
as, I am formally summoned to Paris with your wife, 
concerning whom I know not lohether she may be your 
ivife,^ he wrote to the King, ' therefore be assured, that for 



INTRODUCTION. 



23 



conscience' sake, which I must preserve pure in the sight 
of God, and for the sake of my good name, which the 
priest of Christ is hound to preserve towards those ivho 
are luithout, I luould rather he sunk with a mill-stone in 
the depths of the sea, than to he the means of giving 
offense to the souls of the weak. Nor does this stand in 
the least contradiction with the fidelity luhich I have 
vowed to you ; hut I helieve I shall hest maintain that 
fidelity hy speaking to you as I do, since I am convinced 
that for you to do as you propose, will hring great injury 
upon your soul and great peril to your crown.'' 

Neither hy threats and violence nor hy promises could the 
pious man he turned in the least from the course which he 
considered right. He vehemently reproached those hishops 
who neglected their duty. The King's anger against him 
had for its consequence, that hy one of the nohles his pro- 
perty was confiscated, and he himself put under confine- 
ment. The first men of the city of Chartres now com- 
hined to procure the release of their hishop hy force ; hut 
he remonstrated in the strongest language against such a 
proceeding. ''By laying liouses in ashes and plundering 
the poor,^ he wrote to them, ' ye can not propitiate God's 
favor, hut will only provoke his vengeance ; and ivithout 
his favor neither can ye nor any "man deliver me. I 



24 



lOTRODUCTION. 



ivoulCt not, therefore^ tlmt on my account ye should make 
the cry of the poor and the complaint of ividows go up 
to God's ear. For neither is it hefltting that ij ivho did 
not attain to the hishopric hy luarlike lueapons, shoidd 
recover it again hy such means, which would 7iot he the 
act of a shepherd, hut of a rohher. If the arm of the 
Lord has stricken me, and is stiU stretched out over me, 
then let me alone to hear my so7TOio and the anger of 
the Lord, till he vindicates my cause ; and -wish not to 
augment my misery hy making others luretched.^ "* 

This nohle man died September 3, 1115. 

Bernard of Clairyaux ivas horn at Fontaines, in 
Burgundy, A.D. 1091. His father ivas a knight and a 
man of the loorld, hut his mother ivas a ivoman of great 
piety. After her death, Bernard led for awhile a gay 
and dissolute life ; hut the i^ecoUection of his mother often 
restrained him, and at length hr ought him to seek the con- 
solations of her faith. In the year 1113 he entered the 
monastery of Citeaux. Here he was so devoted to the 
duties of the house, that at the age of twenty-five he was 
made ahhot of a neiu monastery of Cistercians. In a 
quiet retreat among the mountains of Langres he mainly 



* ra. 5,i^. 163. 

__ 



lOTEODUCTIOX. 25 

spent his life^ declining every solicitation to ecclesiastical 
preferment. 

Bernard ivas an enthusiast ; and as a preacher of the 
crusade in France and Germany^ hs stirred up the en- 
thusiasm of others^ even to a belief in his own miracu- 
hus powers. He died in 1153. 

HiLDEBERT, Archbishop OF TouRS, ivas hom at La- 
verdin^ A.D. 1057, and toas educated in part in the 
monastery of Clumj. After a somewhat irregidar life, 
he gave himself zecdously to the duties of the p)ri^sthood, 
was made Bishop of Le Mans^ and Archdeacon of the 
Cathedral. When William Rufus took Le Mam, he 
imprisoned Hildehert for contumacy. Under Henry I., 
he suffered imprisonment, torture, and exile. 

In 1125 he was made Arclibishop of Tours, at the age 
of seventy ; and he vigilantly supeinntended his diocese 
until his death, in 1134. His sermons abound in alle- 
gories. A hymn from his pen closes this volume. 

Peter Abe lard luas horn at Paris, near Nantes , in 
1079. His story is too luell Jcnoiun to he repeated here. 
He luas of a fiery and ambitious temper, and early won 
attention as a sMIlful polemic. He attracted large num- 
bers to his lectures upon Logic and Theology. His un- 
Jiappy passion for Heloise, the misery and shame which 



26 



INTEODU"CTION". 



this brought upon him, her nolle devotion to him through 
all, his final repose in the convent of which she ivas Ab- 
bess, are facts familiar to all readers of history. 

The stormy life of Abelard, by universal report, ter- 
minated in a pious and edifying death in the seclusion 
of the Abbey of Cluny ; and it seems clear that, after the 
one fatal error into which he was betrayed, he brought 
forth fruits meet for repentance. Peter the Venerable 
said of him : never saw his equal for humility of 
maimer and hahits. St. Germanus was not more mo- 
dest, St. Martin more poor. He alloiued no moment to 
escape unoccupied in prayer, reading, writing, or dicta- 
tion. The heavenly visitor surprised him in the midst 
of these holy ivorhsJ'' This is the too partial judgment 
of a friend ; but the faults of Abelard were exaggerated 
by his opponents. 

That Abelard had learned to understand his own 
weaknesses and the peculiar temptations of the Adver- 
sary, and had also learned the blessedness of him luho 
confesseth and forsaketh his sins, seems evident from ser- 
mons written late in life. 

But notwithstanding this comforting evidence that the 
vigorous and subtle intellect and the impetuous tvill of 
Abelard were at length suffused ivith the grace of Christ, 



lOTRODUCTiozsr. 27 

and that Jus heart luas brought to hiow his Redeemer in 
simple faith and love, he can not he regarded as a promi- 
nent example of a true living piety. He died A.D. 
1142. 

Bruno of Aste luas lorn at Aste, in Liguria^ in the 
latter part of the eleventh century. He must not he con- 
founded luith Bruno of Toul^ in the same century^ luho 
was made Pope^ under the title of Leo IX. He filled for 
avuhile the hishopric of Segni ; hut preferring the repose 
of the conventj he hecame Ahhot of Monte Oassino. He 
was zealous for the reformation of the Churchy and also 
for the crusades. His sermons are simple^ earnest^ and 
practical. He died in 1123. 

GrUARRic OF Igniac. The date of his hirth is not 
hnown. He helongs to the middle period of the twelfth 
century. His sermons ahound in citations from the 
Scriptures^ often introduced with fine effect. 

^GiDius OF Assissi flourished also in the middle of 
the twelfth century^ and in his life and ivritings was a 
fine example of contemplative piety. He dwelt much 
upon the internal Christian life. The dates of his hirth 
and his death are uncertain. 

Peter of Chartres ivas horn in Campania, about 
A.D. 1100. In the year 1150 he ivas made Ahhot of 



28 



IXTRODUCTIOX. 



Celles — whence he is sometimes called Cellensis — and^ in 
1180 he luas appointed Bishop of Chartres. 

He had a wide reputation for eloquence^ hut his theo- 
logy ivas not always exact. He died in 1187. 

^LRED, Abhot of the Cistercians at Rievaulx^ a con- 
temporary of Abelard^ ivas a iiuin of quite another 
spirit and life from the great disputant. It is said of 
him, as of Jerome, that he preferred one sentence of 
Paul to all the loealth of Croesus ;" that he was peace- 
ful as Solomon, and gentle as a la nib T His sermons 
have these characteristics. He was d person of most 
sweet and gentle piety, worthy to he numhei^ed with those 
who, in an age of darhiess and corruption, Tcept the true 
grace of God in their souls. He died in 1166. 

Peter of Blois was horn in that town, in the twelfth 
century. He was invited to England hy Henry II., and 
was made Archdeacon of Bath and afterwards of Lon- 
don. He wa^ a hold and earnest opponent of corrup- 
tions in the Church, and at the same time a zealous 
champion for the ecclesiastical against the secular power. 
As a ivriter and preacher he has heen styled Divinissi- 
mus. In his letters he dealt trenchant blows against 
simony, and styled the hangers-on of the Episcopate, 
" bishops-bloodsuckers'' He died in the year 1200. 



i 



IXTEODUCTION". 



29 



Ogerius flourished about A.D. 1200. The folhiving 
is Mr. Keale's hrief account of him : ^^Noihing further 
is 'known of this author than that he was a Cistercian^ 
and an imitator of St. Bernard. He must have written 
considerahly later than thfit saint^ from his appearing 
to acquiesce in the doctrine of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion ; lohich^ as every one knows, St. Bernard opposed, 
not only as an error, hut as something nearly approach- 
ing to heresy. We have from him fifteen sermons ^On 
the Words of the Lord in the Last Supper.'' They have 
much of the heauty and all the defects of the greed mas- 
ter of the author J ^ 

Antony of Padua was horn at Lisbon, A.D. 1195. 
Rejoined the Franciscans, and became the most pop idar 
preacher of that order. His eloquence is said to have 
kindled the midtitude to rapture, and to have wrought 
such effects upon hardened sinners as in later times were 
attributed to Whitfield. He ivas intrepid in the denun- 
ciation of sin, even in high places. He often preached in 
the open air to tens of thousands. He spoke Italian tvith 
a fine accent and luith remarkahle purity ; he lahored 
chiefiy in central and northern Italy. In modern phrase, 
he ivas a great revivcdist. He died at Padua, in 1231. 

Thomas a Kempis is too ivell known through the ^^Imi- 



30 INTRODUCTION. 

tation of Christ,^^ to reqidre an introduction here. He 
ivas horn at Kampen^ on the shore of the Zuyder Zee^ 
A.D. 1381. Having joined the Brothers of the Common 
Life^ he entered their house at Zwolle^ and there spent ■ 
seventy years in meditative piety. He died in 1471. 

Antonio Yietra icas horn in Lishon^ February 6, 
1608 ; hut his childhood was spent chiefly in Brazil. He 
became connected with the order of the Jesuits^ and ivas 
active in their missions to the Indians. As a popidar 
preacher he possessed rare talents — a fine command of 
language^ a vivid imagination^ boldness^ pathos^ satire^ 
and good powers of oratory. He luas frequently em- 
ployed by the Brazilian government in important and 
delicate political negotiations^ in which he always ac- 
quitted himself with honor, fidelity , and success. 

Having vowed himself to a missionary life among the 
Indians^ he went to Maranhdo for this purpose in 1652. 
According to Neale, it loas reclioned that, in the course of 
his labors, he traveled 14,000 leagues on foot through the 
toildest regions of Brazil, twenty-two times navigated the 
whole course of its rivers, built sixteen churches, and com- 
posed six catechisms in different native languages, 1 670 
he again visited Portugal and Rome on business connected 
ivith his mission, and after his return teas named Visitor 



INTRODUCTION. 81 



of the Province of Brazil and Superior of all its mis- 
sions. The last years of his life ivere spent in Bahia^ 
where he lahored^ though nearly hlind^ at his " Clavis 
Prophetarum and there he died^ on the 18th of July ^ 
1697. He may surely he considered one of the most re- 
markable characters ivhom Europe ever produced^ when, 
in the three tuidely different characters of an eloquent 
preacher, an ahle negotiator, and a devoted missionary, 
he obtained a first-rate reputation in two continents. 

The name of Vieyra, called ^^the Last of Medioevcd 
Preachers completes the chronological list of those preach- 
ers from whom the materials of this hook have heen 
gathered. The catalogue covei^s a period of twelve hun- 
dred years, and embraces twenty-four names, from dif- 
ferent countr^ies — France, England, Ireland, Germany, 
Italy, Spain, and Portugal — of various origin and 
ranh, of various grades of talent and of piety, yet all 
uniting in their testimony to some of the essential doc- 
trines of the Gospel. Their general longevity is remark- 
able^ and is to be attribided in part to the quiet regularity 
of monastic life. Something of the contemplative piety 
of the Middle Ages might be of benefit in these stirring 
times. 

In conclusion, the editor loould adopt the wish of Mr. 



32 INTRODUCTION. 

Kingsley^ touching his Saint's Tragedy as appropriate 
here : ^'•If it shall awa'ke one Protestant to recognize in 
some, at least, of the saints of the Middle Age, heings not 
only of the same passions, hut of the same Lord, the same 
faith, the same haptism, as themselves ; Protestants, not 
the less deep and true, because tdterly unconscious and 
py^actical ; mighty witnesses against the two anti-christs 
of their age, the tyranny of feudal caste and the phan- 
toms which Popery substitutes for the living Christ — 
then will my little booh have done its luorh.'^ 

NeiD-YorTc^ March^ 1857. 

The stanzas prefixed to the several sections are 
from old Latin hymns. 



The Advent. 



1 



Thine, wondrous Babe of Galiiee ! 

Fond theme of David's harp and son 
Thine are the notes of minstrels}^ 

To thee its ransooied chords belong. 
And hark ! again the chorus swells, 

The song is wafted on the breeze, 
And to the listening earth it tells. 

In accents soft and sweet as these — 
Glory to Thee, to Thee, O Lord ! 







The Advent 

At midnight there was a cry raade^ 
Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, I un- 
derstand it to be called midnight, 
because all things loere in quiet silence^ 
and that night was in the midst of her 
course. It was niglit among tlie 
Jews wliose eyes were blinded by 
tlieir malice so tliat tliey could not 
see. In like manner, also, tlie peo- 
ple of the Grentiles walked in dark- 
ness, tlie Bridegroom came and a cry 
was made. The silence of the night 
was broken. He came Who reveals 
the hidden things of darkness. He 
put an end to the night, and made it 
day. The nighty saith the Apostle, 
is far spent, the day is at hand. And 
why is the cry said to have been 


The Day 
breaking. 

Peter of 
Blois. 
A.D. 1180. 



4 



The Advent. 



The Day 
breaking. 

Peter of 
Blois. 
A.D. 1180. 



T/ie Can- 
clesce7ision 
of God. 

Aelred. 
A.D. 1160. 



made at midniglit, unless it be that 
in the midst of that silence, and 
while the Almighty Word ivas about 
to leap down from its royal seat, the 
Prophetj foreknowing the Advent 
of Cheist, burst forth into the voice 
of clamour and joy, and broke the 
silence ? 

Consider, I beseech yon, what 
God is ; and see what is the reason 
why He put off such majesty, emp- 
tied Himself of such power, made 
weak such strength, made low such 
altitude, made foolish such wisdom. 
Was it the righteousness of man? 
By no means. For they are all gone 
out of the way ; they have altogether 
become abominable ; there is none that 
doeth good. What then? Was it 
any want in Him^self ? Surely not. 
For His is the earth and the fulness 
thereof Did he stand in any need of 
U.S? By no means. Thoio art my 



The Advent. 



Ood^ my goods are nothing unto Thee. 
What was it therefore? Truly, O 
LoED, not my righteousness, but 
Thy mercy ; not Thy want, but my 
necessity. For Thou hast said, Mer- 
cy shall he built up in the heavens. 
It is so of a truth ; because mercy 
was piled up upon earth. There- 
fore, with respect to the first Ad- 
vent, / ivill sing of mercy and judg- 
ment. 

» • • 

He came that He might be re- 
cognised. Who was not yet recog- 
nised ; might be believed. Who was 
not yet believed; might be feared, 
Who was not yet feared ; might be 
loved. Who was not yet loved. So 
He that was feared in His Essence 
came in His Mercy ; to the end that 
His Humanity might be recognised. 
His Divinity believed. His Power 
feared. His Kindness loved. His 
Humanity appeared in His taking 





The Advent. 


Why did 
Christ 
come f 

Aelred. 
A.D. 1160. 


upon Himself our infirmity ; His 
Divinity in His manifestation of mi- 
racles ; His power in His victory 
over devils ; His Kindness in His 
reception of sinners. It was of His 
Humanity tliat He was an liungered ; 
of His Divinity that He satisfied five 
thousand with five loaves ; of His 
Humanity that He slept in the ship ; 
of His Divinity that He commanded 
the sea and the waves ; of His Hu- 
manity that He endured death ; of 
His Divinity that He raised the 
dead. It was of His Power that He 
cast out the Pharisees from the tem- 
ple ; of His Kindness that He re- 
ceived publicans and sinners to eat 
with Him ; of His Power that He 
terrified devils; of His Kindness 
that He pardoned the woman taken 
in adultery ; of His Power that He 
cast down those who sought to ap- 
prehend Him ; of His Mercy that 
He restored the ear of His persecu- 



The Advent. 


7 


tor at once to its place and to its 
health. And these all, since they 
pertain to His First Coming, are to 
be ascribed to. His Mercy. 

. 

If even David sustained his mind 
with the bare hope of this salvation 
which was reserved for us, what joy, 
what delight should the manifesta- 
tion of the thing itself cause to us ! 
0 happiness of these times ! 0 un- 
happiness of these times ! Is it not 
happiness, when there is such pleni- 
tude of grace, and of all good things ? 
Is it not unhappiness, when there is 
so much ingratitude of those that are 
redeemed? For now, behold, the 
fulness of the time is come, in which 
God sent forth His SoK, that He 
might become the Son of Man, and 
the Savioue of men. 

And behold, also, the inic[uity of 
the time, that sinful man should re- 


■ 

i 

The Joy of 

OhrisVs 

Coming. 

Chiarrio. 
A.D. 1150. 



8 


The Advent. 


The Joy of 

Coming. 

Chiarric. 
A.D. 1150. 


ject Ms Sayioue ! Salvation is an- 
nounced to the lost, and they despise 
it. Life is promised to the hopeless, 
and they neglect it. GrOD comes to 
men, and they rise not before Him. 
He may be said to rise, who lifibs 
himself up by any kind of devotion, so 
as to give glory to the grace of God. 
He may be said to rise, who does 
but receive with joy the message of 
his own salvation. I know, — yes, I 
know who it is that is gladdened by 
that good word. He it is, who has 
been first humbled by pious grief — 
by grief for his wandering and his ex- 
ilcj — ^by grief for the chains of death 
and the perils of Hell, and in his 
grief mourns every day that the pains 
of Hell caine about liim^ the snares of 
death overtooh him, Happy for him 
is to-day's coming of God's messen- 
ger ! Full of joy, he receives the 
message of the Lord concerning His 
Soisr, and while he weeps and la- 



The Advent. 


9 


ments tliat lie is prevented ^md cir- 
camvented with so many evils, he 
hears with gladness of his liberator ; 
of Him Who is to give the oil of joy 
for mourning^ the garment of praise 
for the spirit of heaviness; of Him 
Who is to put an end to misery, and 
to bestow endless blessedness on the 
miserable. Blessed^ then, are they 
that mourn^ for they shall he comforted; 
blessed are those whose hearts have 
been humbled by pious grief, be- 
cause they shall be gladdened by 
this good loord, A good and con- 
solatory word, indeed, was Thine 
Almighty Word^ 0 LoED, Who to- 
day came down from His royal seat, 
into the womb of the Virgin, and 
there also constructed a royal throne ; 
whence He now sits as a King, while 
the army of angels stand around 
Him in. Heaven ; and yet He is the 
Consoler of the mourners upon earth. 


T'le Joy of 

ChrisVs 

Coming, 

Guarric. 
A.D. 1150. 



10 


The Advent. 


The Offer- 
ings of the 
Wise 3fen. 

Jfaurus. 
A.r).T76-S56 


But I should like to say some- 
thing to you concerning those three 
gifts which the wise men offered on 
this day to our Eedeemer. They of- 
ered gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 
But there is a threefold signification 
in these threefold gifts. In the frank- 
incense, they offered to Chkist the 
honour of GrOD ; in the gold, the dig- 
nity of a King ; in the myrrh, the 
sepulture of His Body. And let us 
offer, beloved brethren, sincere and 
holy gifts to our God : that is. Faith, 
Hope, and Charity. Let us offer the 
gold of wisdom ; the frankincense of 
devout prayer ; myrrh, in the morti- 
fication of the flesh. Let us offer 
devotion of body ; honesty of word ; 
probity of work. Let us offer purity 
of soul ; chastity of flesh ; and the 
watch of humility. Let us offer 
sympathy, long-suffering, and conti- 
nence. Let us offer kindness, so- 



The Advent. 


11 


briety, and mercy These 

are the gifts which please GrOD ; these 
are the pleasant oblations which are 
offered to Him, but profit the offer- 
ers. He stands in need of no gift — 
of no present : but this is the gift that 
He holds the most acceptable — the 
haying a cause for rewarding. He 
demands nothing further from us — 
He seeks nothing more from us— 
than our salvation. He considers 
that we do all things for Him, if we 
only act so that He may do all things 
for us. But we must ask, in this 
matter, for His efl&cacious help, that 
mercy may prevent and follow us all 
the days of our life : so that we may 
dwell in the house of the Loed for 
ever; which may He vouchsafe to 
grant. Who liveth and reigneth for 
ever and ever. Amen. 


T(ie Offer- 
ings of the 
Wise Men. 

Maurus. 
A.D.776-856 



12 


The Advent. 


The Pre- 
sentation, 

Guarric. 
A.D. 1150. 


And lolien the days of her purifim- 
iion were accomplished^ they brought 
Him to Jerusalem, Oh how happy 
is he of whom it may be said, the 
days of his purification are accom- 
plished ; so that nothing now further 
remains but they bear hun to the 
heavenly Jerusalem, and set him be- 
fore the LoED. And such an one 
was that old man, our Simeon; as 
much to be desired, as full of desires. 
The days of his purification, as I im- 
agine, had long since been accom- 
plished ; to-day those of his expecta- 
tion also were fulfilled. So that 
now, according to the Word of the 
Lord, nothing else remained for him, 
after he had seen the Lord's Christ, \ 
— Christ, the Peace of God and of 
men, — ^but that he should be let to 
depart in peace^ and should lay him 
down in peace and take his rest ; that i 
is, that they should bear him into 



The Advent. 


13 


the Jerusalem of eternal peace, and 
set him where he might contemplate 
that peace which passeth all under- 
standing, 0 Simeon, man of de- 
sires, thy desire is J&Ued with good 
things ! Blessed old man ! thy youth 
is renewed^ like tlie eagles\ Thou hast 
now gone unto that altar of God^ hea- 
venly, eternal; to the God Who 
giveth joy to thy youth by the eternal 
vision of Himself, as He had given 
joy to thy old age by the vision 
of Christ. At that invisible altar 
thou art now thyself presented to 
the Father, to AYhom, at this visi- 
ble altar, thou didst to-day present 
the Son. The Son Hhnself, Whom 
thou didst this day carry in thine 
arms, thou dost there now enfold 
with an eternal and indissoluble em- 
brace. The longing of the happy 
old man is therefore filed luith good 
thingSj whose whole expectation and 


The Pre- 
sentation. 

Chiarric. 
A.D. 1150. 



14 


The Advent. 


The Com- 

. ing of the 
i Holy 
Ghost. 

Peter of 
Chartres. 
A.D.1100-S7 


desire was tlie Expectation of the Gen- 
tiles, and their Desire. 

• • • ■ 

The Holy Gthost comes as a Lokd, 
as a Guest, as a Husbandman; lastly, 
as a Divine Fire: the Loed to the 
servant, the Guest to the guest-cham- 
ber, the Husbandman to the field, the 
Fire to a heap of fuel. The Loed 
oppresses not the servant, laying bur- 
dens on him in the spirit of slavery ; I 
He molests not His guest nor His 
house, by requiring impossibihties, 
or demanding possibilities without 
reward. The Husbandman neglects j 
not His field ; but extirpates thorns i 
and thistles, and tends diligently the 1 
good seed He has sown. The Fire, | 
falling on that heap of gold and sil- i 
ver, and precious stones, burns not, 
but illuminates; consumes not, but 
purges ; so that the silver is seven 
times purified, the gold becomes most 



The Advent. 


15 


precious, the stones are kindled, to 
remove the reproach of Egypt from 
the lips of the Prophet. 

- — • • • • 

In the first Advent He showed 
mercy. In the second he bestows 
grace. In the third He will give 
glory. For, the Lord will give grace 
and ghry. In the first He appeared 
contemptible, and vile, and frail : for 
Herod despised Him, the Jews reject- 
ed Him, the Gentiles slew Him. The 
Apostle speaking of the second, he- 
holding^ saith he, the ghry of the Lord, 
we are changed into the same image 
from glory to glory ^ even as by the Spi- 
rit of the Lord. In the first He was 
judged unjustly. In the second He 
justifies us by grace. In the third 
He will judge righteously. He was 
a Lamb in the first : He will be a 
Lion in the last : He is a Friend in 
the second. Of the first He saith by 


J7ie 2%ree 
Ad/oents. 

Peter of 
Blois. 
A.D. 1130. 



16 


The Advent. 


The Three 
Advents. 

Peter of 
Blois. 
A.D. IISO. 

1 

! 


Isaiah, Iioas durnb^ and opened not My 
mouth. Of the last: Now will I cry 
like a travailing woman. Of the sec- 
ond He saith, We ivill come unto him^ 
and make our abode with him. He, 
Who once came meek and gentle, will 
hereafter come as the tremendous and 
terrible Judge. He, Who once came 
in the spirit of humility, will hereaf- 
ter come in the spirit of judgment and 
in the spirit of huming. 



O uoLY Lamb, slain ere the world was made, 
Aj)d bast Thou from Thy Fathers bosom come, 

Thyself the sacrifice 

Dimly shadowed of old ! 

Glory to God, His only Sou who gave. 
The Son who died, a living sacrifice; 

And Spirit who came down 

To light the altar-flame. 







The Passion. 

He was humble in the taking upon 
Himself of our nature, wlien He re- 
garded the lowliness of Ms handmaid- 
en. He was poor in His Nativity, in 
wliicli a poor Virgin, when she had 
brought forth the Very So^^ of God, 
had not where she could lay Him ; 
she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes^ 
and laid Him in a manger. He was 
wise in His preaching, because He 
began to do and to teach. He was 
merciful in His receiving of sinners. 
For I came not^ saith He, to call the 
righteous^ hut sinners to repentance. 
He was patient imder the scourge, 
the. blows, and the spitting: whence 
He saith by Isaiah, / have set My 
Face like a flint. For a flint, when it 


The vir- 
tues of 
Christ. 

Antony of 
Padua. 
A.D. 1195, 
1231. 



20 


The Passion. 


Chrisfs 
Journey 
to Jerusa- 
lem. 

Peter Da- 
miani. 

A.D. 1007, 

1072. 


is struck, dotli not strike again, nor 
mnrmnr against him that breaks it. 
So CheisT; ivken he was reviled^ reviled 
not again ; when he suffered, he threat- 
ened not, 

• • • 

When I consider Thee, Lord Je- 
sus, my admiration and my compas- 
sion increases. Why dost Thou go 
to the Jews who lie in wait for Thy 
soul ? They are betrayers and mur- 
derers ; trust not Thyself to them, 
for they love Thee not; the}^ will not 
pity Tliee ; they will condemn Thee 
to a most base death. Why dost 
Thou hasten to endure such mocking, 
suchscou.rging, such blaspheming? to 
be crowned with thorns, to be spit 
upon, to have vinegar given Thee to 
drink, to be pierced with the spear, 
to die, and to be laid in the sepulchre ? 
In this Thy resolution, in this Thy 
design, my soul, when I consider it, 
is overwhelmed. I grieve with Thee^ 



The Passion. 



21 



LoED Jesus, over tlie miseries of Thy 
Passion. The advice of Peter, Thy 
friend, is that which I should have 
given, who said, Be ii far from Thee^ 
Lord; this shall not happen unto Thee, 
It is not meet that the Son" of GrOD 
should taste of death. But Peter 
knew not that Christ had from the 
beginning fore-ordained His Passion, 
that hy death He might destroy our 
death^ and by rising again might re- 
store our life. 



Jesus knowing that His hour luas 
come^ that He should depart out of this 
world to the Father. Jesus in Hebrew 
is in Latin by interpretation a Sav- 
iour. This is that most mighty Sav- 
iour Who can no more be conquer- 
ed, and Who saves all those that pu.t 
their trust in Him. Once for thee, 0 
Christian, He was conquered; yes, 
and He died : but weep not, because 



Ohrisfs 
Jotwney 
to Jerusa- 



Peter Da- 
miani. 
A.D. lOOT, 
1072. 



Tlie Hour 
Gome. 



Ogerius. 
A.D. 1200. 



22 


The Passion. 


The Hour 
Come. 

Oge7nu8. 
A.D. 1200. 


He hath, risen from the dead, and 
death shall no more have dominion 
oyer him. It was needful that He 
should die for the salvation of the 
world, and that He should rise again 
the third day ; and that through His 
Name, repentance and remission of 
sins should be preached to all na- 
tions : and this is the cause why it is 
written, Jesus hnovjing that His hour 
was come. This is that hour which, 
according to the flesh. He beforehand 
feared, saying : Now is My soul 
trouhled^ and ivhat shall I say? Father, 
save me from this hour? hut for this 
cause came I unto this hour, Christ 
feared to die that thou mightest not 
fear to die, but mightest trust m Him 
Who raised Jesus from the dead 
on the third day. Put thy trust in 
Him alone Who raised up Jesus. 
Therefore, 0 Christian, despair not 
for any weakness of thine. 

This hour He foreknew ; this hour 







The Passion. 



23 



he chose, that in it He might depart 
from this world to the Fathee, ac- 
cording to His humanity, from 
Whom He never departed according 
to His Divinity. This hour is that 
end of which it is said : Having loved 
His own which were in the luorld^ He 
loved them unto the end. Having loved 
His own and become Man for their 
sakes, He loved them so far that His 
love led Him to death. He loved 
them in death, that thou by loving 
Him mightest depart out of this 
world to the Father. He loved 
them to the end that thou mightest 
remain in His love to the end also : 
which if thou dost, beyond all doubt 
thou wilt go to the Father: and he, 
who remaineth not in His love to the 
end, I say it in all truth, will perish 
everlastingly. There can be no 
bounds in His love. He loved thee 
without measure, thou oughtest to 
love Him without measure. He ex- 



24 



The Passion. 



Oome. 



A.D. 1200. 



Tlis Glory 
of the 
dross. 

Peter Da- 
7niani. 
A.i>. J 007, 
1072. 



ceeded all measure of love in dying 
for tliee : thou canst not love Him 
as thou oughtest. Love Him then, 
with all thy heart, with all thy mind, 
with all thy soul, and with all thy 
strength. This only He seeks : be- 
yond this He seeks not : this do, and 
thou shalt live. 



But why do we endeavour to col- 
lect into one the types of the Cross 
which are contained in Holy ScrijD- 
ture, when every page is subservient 
—the Holy Ghost so ordering it — 
to tliis terrible sign? This is the 
Mercy-seat to which tlie two cheru- 
bims look with their faces turned 
towards each other : because the two 
Testaments, — ^the Old and the New, 
— concordantly, and without any dif- 
ference, point to Him Who hung 
upon the Cross. For John saith, 
And He is the Propitiation for our 



The Passion. 



sins ; and Peter, speaking of the an- Qi^^y 
cient Fathers, affirms, By the grace o/o^l 
of Christ we trust that lue shall be peter Da- 
savedj even as they. The Cross, then, ioot, 
is the concord of Scriptures, and, as 
it were, the boundary and the bor- 
der-land of old and new things. 
The Cross confederates heaven and 
earth ; the Cross rejoins men and 
angels in the unanimity of their an- 
I cient concord. The Cross is the 
death of vice, and the fountain and 
life of all virtue. The Cross is the 
path of the unwise; the high-road 
of them that are earnest in the race ; 
j the rest of those that have attained 
1 the goal. The Cross is the earnest 
! for those that are enlisted ; the 
I strength of those that are engaged 
I in war; the reward of those that 
have been discharged from service. 
The Cross is the courage of those 
that are fighting bravely ; the re- 
covery of those that are fallen ; the 



3 



26 


The Passion, 


Tke Olory 
of the 
Cross. 

Peter Da- 
miani. 

A.D lOOT, 

1072. 


crown of those that are victorious. 
The Cross subjects us to a momen- 
tary death, and recompenses us with 
eternal Hfe. The Cross strips us of 
earthly goods, that it may enrich us 
with heavenly possessions ; teaches 
us to hunger, that it may satisfy us ; 
inures us to humility, that it may 
exalt us ; accustoms us to patience, 
that it may crown us. The Cross is 
the rule to those that live in Christ ; 
is the perfect pattern of righteous- 
ness; is the example of all good 
practices. The Cross terrifies the 
Devil, and he flies; invites good 
angels, and they enter ; represses the 
vain fantasies of our thoughts, and 
introduces the Holy Ghost to chaste 
and pure hearts. The Cross re- 
freshes the weary; strengthens the 
weak ; and comforts those who have 
already begun to despair. 



The Passion. 


27 


0 Jesus of Nazareth, Thou That 
wast crucified for us ! Thou loosen- 
est the bands of sinners ; freest the 
souls of saints ; humblest the necks 
of the haughty ; breakest down the 
power of the wicked ; comfortest the 
faithful ; puttest to flight the unbe- 
lievers ; deliverest the pious ; pun- 
ishest the hardened ; overthrowest 
the adversaries. Thou raisest up 
them that are fallen; Thou settest 
at liberty them that are oppressed ; 
Thou smitest them that do hurt; 
Thou defendest them that are inno- 
cent ; Thou lovest them that are 
true; Thou hatest them that are 
false ; Thou despisest the carnal ; 
Thou hast regard to the spiritual; 
Thou receivest them that come to 
Thee ; Thou hidest them that take 
refuge in Thee. Them that call up- 
on Thee, Thou hearest ; • them that 
visit Thee, Thou rejoicest ; them 


ThePraise 
of Christ, 

Thomas a 
Kempis. 

A.D. IBS I, 

1471. 



28 



Tlie Passion. 



ThePraise 
of Christ 

Thomas d 



A.D. 13S1, 
1471. 



that seek Thee, Thoii helpest ; tliem 
that cry to Thee, Thou strengthen- 
est. Thou honourest them that ho- 
nour Thee ; Thou praisest them that 
praise Thee ; Thou lovest them that 
love Thee ; Thou giorifiest them that 
adore Thee ; Thou blessest them that 
bless Thee ; Thou exaltest them that 
exalt Thee. On them that look to 
Thee, Thou lookest ; them that kis?* 
Thee, Thou kissest ; them that em 
brace Thee, Thou embracest; them 
that follow Thee, Thou leadest to 
heaven. 



The Sy m - 
pathy of 
Jems. 

AMlarcl. 
A.D. 1079, 
1142. 



When He went forth to His 
crucifixion. He stilled the women 
that were lamenting Him, and said, 
Daughters of Jerusalem^ weep not for 
Mej hut weep for yourselves and your 
children. As if He said. Grieve not 
for Me in these My sufferings, as if 
by their means I should fall into any 



The Passion. 


29 


real destruction; but ratlier lament 
for that heavy vengeance which 
hangs over you and your children, 
for that which they have committed 
against Me. So we, also, brethren, 
should rather weep for ourselves 
than for Him ; for the faults which 
we have committed, not for the pun- 
ishments which He bore. Let us so 
rejoice with Him and for Him, as to 
grieve for our own offences ; that the 
guilty servant committed the trans- 
gression, and the innocent Loed 
bore the punishment. He taught us 
to weep for ourselves. Who is never 
said to have wept for Himself, but 
Who wept for Lazarus when He was 
about to raise him from the dead; 
on account of whose resurrection 
the honour which we celebrate to- 
day was paid by the crowds to the 
Loud. 


The Sym- 
pathy of 
Jemis. 

Ahelard. 
A.D. 1079, 
1142. 

1 

[ 



30 


The Passion. 


The Dy- 
ing Thief. 

Peter Da- 
miani. 

A.D. 1007, 

1072. 


AYhat sliall I say of the fame of 
that Cross, which, as its own first- 
fruits, caused the thief to enter into 
heaven, and by him opened the gates 
of Paradise, that thenceforth all the 
elect might pass through them? 
That angel who had received the 
sword which excluded from Para- 
dise, beheld the key which was to 
open it in the Cross, and no longer 
opposed himself to the entrance. 
Not that cross which he bore, but 
that in which he believed, and in 
the virtue of which he trusted, when 
he said, Lord^ remember me when 
Thou comest in Thy kingdom. Won- 
derful liberty of him that was con- 
demned ! "Wonderful power of Him 
that justified! He that is judged, 
judges. He that is condemned, ab- 
solves one that is condemned. The 
Cross on which He hangs. He makes 
both the judgment-seat of one that 



The Passion. 



31 



pronounces sentence, and the separa- 
tion by the law of equity between 
thief and thief, as between the sheep 
and the goats. 7J said the Loed, if 
I he lifted up from the earth, will draiv 
all men lmto Me, 



Graces and Duties. 



Angels come, on joyous pinion, 
Down the Heaven's melodious stair 

Triumphing o'er death's dominion, 
LTp to this our lower air 

Christ is rising, 
And doth burst the sepulcher. 

Lord, with Thee in daily dying. 
May we die, and with Thee rise ; 

And on earth, ourselves denying. 
Have our hearts within the skies, 

To sing our God 
Three in One, sole good and wise. 





85 


Graces and Duties, 

What else is Holy Scripture but 
a letter from the Almiglity God to 
liis creature? Surely, if you re- 
sided far from tlie palace, and re- 
ceived a letter from the earthly em- 
peror, you would not be able to rest 
or to sleep till you knew what he 
had written you. The King of hea- 
ven, the Lord of men and of angels, 
has sent you a letter to conduct you 
to eternal life, and yet you delay to 
read it zealously. Bestir yourself 
then, and meditate daily on the 
words of your Creator. Learn the 
mind of Grod in the word of Grod, 
that you may sigh for eternal things 

W-Lu-LL mux C cLxULd-Lu VXOijlJL C, Lllcl' L) y w LLx 

soul may be inflamed by greater 


Excellence 
of the 
Bible. 

Gregory 
of Borne. 
A.D.540-604 



36 


Grraces and Duties. 


Ti'iiH in 
Christ. 

Anselm: 
A.D. 1032, 
1109. 


longing after the heavenly joys. 
For all the deeper will be the rest 
of your soul when love to your Cre- 
ator leaves you no rest. 

We may notice that this com- 
motion of the waves, and tottering 
or half-sinking of Peter, takes place 
even in our time, according to the 
spiritual sense, daily. For every 
man's own besetting sin is the tem- 
pest. You love God; you walk 
upon the sea; the swellings of this 
world are under your feet. You 
love the world ; it swallows you up : 
its wont is to devour, not to bear 
up, its lovers. But when your heart 
fluctuates with the desire of sin, call 
on the Divinity of Oheist, that you 
may conquer that desire. You think 
that the wind is then contrary when 

against you, and not also when its 



Graces and Duties. 


37 


prosperity fawns upon you. For 
wlien wars, when tumults, wlien fa- 
mine, when pestilence comes, when 
any private calamity happens even 
to individual men, then the wind is 
thought adverse, and then it is held 
right to call upon God ; but when 
the world smiles with temporal feli- 
city, then, forsooth, the wind is not 
contrary. Do not, by such tokens 
as these, judge of the tranquillity of 
the time ; but judge of it by your 
own temptations. See if you are 
tranquil within yourself; see if no 
internal tempest is overwhelming 
you. It is a proof of great virtue to 
struggle with happiness, so that it 
shall not seduce, corrupt, subvert. 
Learn to trample on this world ; re- 
member to trust in Chkist. And 
if your foot be moved, — if you tot- 
ter, — if there are some temptations 

Lliai you KjcHlLlUb (JVClOUiIit;, il Vv-'U 

begin to sink, cry out to Jesus, 


Trust in 
Christ. 

Anselm. 
A.D. 1032, 
1109. 



4 



38 



Graces and Duties. 



Trust in 
Christ. 

A nselm.. 

A.D. 1032, 

11(;9. 



Lord^ save me. In Peter, therefore, 
the common condition of all of ns is 
to be considered; so that, if the 
wind of temptation endeavours to ' 
upset us in any matter, or its bil- 
lows to swallow us up, we may cry 
to Cheist. He shall stretch forth 
His Hand, and preserve us from the 
deep. 



Against 

'vain- 

glorying. 

Aelred. 
A.D. 1160. 



If we have passed through fire 
and water, so that neither did the 
fire consume us, nor the water 
drown us, whose is the glory? Is 
it ours, so that we should exult in 
it as if it belonged to us ? GrOD for- 
bid. How many exult, brethren, 
when they are praised by men, tak- 
ing the glory or the gifts of God as 
if it were their own and not exult- 
ing in the honour of God, who 
while they seek that which is their 
own and not the things of Jesus 



Graces and Duties. 


39 


Oheist, both lose that whicli is their 
own and do not gain that which 
is Christ's! He then exults in 
Christ's glory, who seeks not his 
glory but Christ's, and he under- 
stands that, in ourselves, there is 
nothing of which we can boast, since 


Against 
vain- 
glorying. 

Aelred. 
A.D. 1160. 



we have nothing that is our own. 



But God forbid that I should glory ^ 
save in the Cross of Christ Jesus, 

Beloved brethren, blessed Paul, 
the excellent beholder of heavenly 
secrets, sets forth to us in the afore- 
said words, that the Cross is the 
right way of living well ; is the best 
teaching how to suffer adversity ; is 
the firmest ladder whereby we may 
ascend to heaven by its most uncon- 
quered sign. It is this which leads 
its lovers into the country of eternal 
light, of eternal peace, of eternal 
blessedness, which the world cannot 



Glorying 
in the 
Cross. 

Thomas a 



A.D. 1381, 
1471. 



40 



Graces and Duties. 



Glorying 
in the 
Cross. 

Thomas a 



A.u. 1331, 
1471. 



Resist the 
Devil. 

Ccesariiis 
of Aries. 
A.D.470-542 



give, nor tlie Devil take away. Hu- 
man frailty abhors the suffering of 
poverty, contempt, vileness, hunger, 
labor, pain, necessity, derision, which 
all are so often its lot, and which 
weigh down and disturb men. But 
all these things joined together, form 
by their manifold sufferings a salu- 
tary Cross, God so ordering this dis- 
pensation for us ; and to the true 
bearers of the Cross they open the 
gate of the celestial kingdom. To 
them that fight, they prepare the 
palm of life ; to them that conquer, 
they give the diadem of eternal 

glory , 

How can we fear the devil, if we 
are united to God ? Thou hast such 
a leader in the strife, and yet fearest 
the devil? Thou fightest under 
sach a king, and yet doubtest of 
victory? Daily, indeed, does Satan 
oppose thee, but Christ is present. 



Grraces and Duties. 


41 


The devil would crush, thee to the 
earth, Christ will raise thee erect; 
the one would kill, the other will 
keep thee alive ; but be of good 
cheer, brethren, Christ is better able 
to bear you up, than Satan to beat 
you down. 


Resist the 
Devil. 

Ocesarius 
of Aries. 
A.i).470-542 


What avails it, if our body only 
dwells in the place of rest, and un- 
rest continues to rule in our hearts ; 
if the appearance of rest is diffused 
over our exterior deportment, whilst 
storms rage within? For we are 
not come into this place in order to 
permit ourselves to be ministered 
to by the world, in order to enjoy 
plenty and repose. You ought to 
know, my brethren, that it avails us 
nothing if w.e distress our bodies 
with fasting and watching, and do 
not amend our hearts or care for our 
souls, in vam do we riatter our- 
selves that we are crucifying the 


iSelfde- 
nial. 

Ccesarins 
of Aries. 
A.T).470-542 


4- 



42 


> 

Grraces and Duties. 


Inward 
Self-de- 
nial. 

Ocpsarizia 
of Aries. 
A.D.4T0-542 


flesh, if our outward man is tamed 
down bj austerities, whilst our in- 
ward man is not healed of its pas- 
sions. It is as if one made a column 
gilt on the outside ; or as if a house 
were built with magnificence and 
art, and painted with the finest col- 
ours, and within were full of snakes 
and scorpions. What avails it that 
thou tormentest thy body, if thy 
heart is not amended? Let us re- 
nounce the sweets of this earthly 
life, and think daily on eternal life ; 
and endeavour, with hearts purified 
from the bitterness of worldly lusts, 
to attain a foretaste of that bliss. 
Let us now serve our Lord and Grod 
with the joy fulness with which He 
invites us, by His aid, to come and 
partake of His gifts. 




The greatest evil of all evils, — TheEvu 
no, I am not speaking well; the ^.^^^'^ 
evil wliicli alone is an evil, and tlie a.d.igus-97 
chief evil, is sin. For as God, by 
His very essence, is the chief good, 
so sin, because it is an offence to 
God, is the chief evil. But if be- 
tween sin and sin, so far as we are 
concerned, any comparison may be 
drawn, intended sin is the worst and 
most perilous evil. Past and the 
present, because it was and is sin, 
are unspeakable misery ; but the 
future, besides being that, is also of 
fearful danger. 



Love is like fire; whatever is ThePoioer 
placed in the fire, becomes fire. So 
IS it With love. All that can befall a.d. 1250. 
a man who possesses true love is it- 
self converted into a love. Has he 
to encounter great toils? It be- 



44 



Graces and Duties. 



The Power 
of Love. 

Berthold. 
A.D. 1250. 



comes a pleasure of love to him. 
Has lie great poverty? It is the 
same. It seems to many people as 
if they loved Grod, while yet they 
love Him not in the way He has 
bidden. It is a small thing to love 
Grod with something else — with a 
pater noster, an alms, with a visit to 
a church, or with a bow towards the 
altar, or to a picture. Others, who 
can discourse largely of Christ's suf- 
ferings, of God's love and mercy, 
are wanting in true love. Learn not 
even to be an enemy to thine ene- 
mies ; for it is an eminent sign that 
one is a child of our heavenly Fa- 
ther, and a pupil of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and a dwelling of the Holy 
Ghost, if he has learned of Him to 
love his enemies, and to carry a gen- 
tle heart towards them that have 
done him ill, and to be peaceful with 
them that hate peace. What joy 
has the Holy Ghost over the heart 



Graces and Duties. 


45 


where lie finds sncli constant quiet 
within ! 

• • • . 

The disciples were already longing 
for high places ; the truth recalls them 
to the road by which they must gain 
the heights. By the hitter cup of 
sorrow we attain to glory. What 
is that ''which He had heard from 
His Father, and would make known 
to all His servants, that they might 
be His friends?" (John 15 : 15.) 
Is it not the inward blessedness of 
love, the feast of the heavenly coun- 
try, of which, by the breathings of 
His love. He daily gives our souls 
some foretaste ? For in loving the 
heavenly things which we have re- 
ceived, we already know that which 
we love, love being itself know- 
ledge. The friends of the Lord pro- 
claim the news of the eternal home 
by word and life; they enter into 


Perfect 
through 
Suffering. 

Gregory 
of Rome. 
A.D.54( 1-604 . 



46 



Perfect 
through 
Suffering. 

Gregory 
of Rome. 
A.D.540-604 



Enough of 



yieyra. 
A.D.160S-97 



Graces and Duties. 



it tliroiigli sorrows. But let him 
who has attained to the dignity of a 
friend of God, look on himself as 
he is in himself, and on the gifts 
received as something sublime, ex- 
alted above himself. 



Oh, would to the Divine Majesty 
and mercy that this heavenly lesson 
might be so imprinted on — ^might so 
penetrate into — our souls, that from 
this hour, from this moment, we 
might most constantly resolve never 
to sin again, neither for advantage, 
nor pleasure, nor fear, nor any acci- 
dent or event of life or death ! See 
who it is that tells you to sin, and 
who it is that tells you not to sin. 
That which tells you to sin may be 
the world, may be the devil, may be 
the flesh ; three capital enemies, who 
only desire and contrive your eternal 
condemnation. And He That tells 



Graces and Duties. 



47 



you not to sin is that same God Who, 
after giving you your existence, 
made Himself Man for love of you 
— ^is that God and Man Who, only 
that He might save you and make 
you eternally blessed, shrank not 
from suffering so many torments and 
insults, and from dying, nailed upon 
a Cross. This so mighty Lord, this 
so wise Counsellor, this so true and 
so faithful friend — He it is Who tells 
you not to sin: Jam amplius noli pec- 
mre. 

Consider well these words of the 
most loving Jesus, that they are not 
only sufficient to persuade, but also 
to soften any man that has a heart : 
Jam amplius: no more. Let it suf- 
fice, O Christian, redeemed with My 
own Blood, let it suffice that thou 
hast already sinned so much ; let it 
sufi&ce that thou hast lived without 
Lord, without reason, without con- 
science, without soul. Let that suf- 



48 



Enough of 



Vieyra. 
A.p.l 608-97 



fice in whicli tliou hast already offend- 
ed Me ; let that suffice in whicli tliou 
hast already despised Me; let that 
suffice in which thou hast already 
crucified Me. If thou hast no com- 
passion on Me, at least have compas- 
sion on thyself ; I say it out of love 
to thee. If it is not enough that I 
command thee to sin no more, I en- 
treat thee, I l3eseech thee, I set forth 
to thee not only My Will, but I in- 
voke all the powers of thine own : 
NoUj noli peccare. In thy hand, in 
thy power, in thy will, rests thine 
own salvation, if thou desirest it ; that 
thou mayest see what blindness, what 
folly, what unhappinesS; what misery, 
what eternal confusion, what irreme- 
diable grief will be thine, if, by thine 
own choice, and for the sake of not 
resisting a sin, thou condemnest thy- 
self If thou wert already in hell, 
whither thou art so furiously runniag, 
and where thou wouldst now be 



Graces and Duties. 


49 


burning if I had not restrained My 
justice, what would be thy condition 
now? And if at this very hour I 
were to offer thee deliverance from 
hell, and the kingdom of heaven, 
only on the condition that thou 
wouldst never sin again, what wouldst 
thou do, and what thanks wouldst 
thou render ? If, then, through My 
mercy and loving kindness, thou art 
still in life, why not, in all earnest- 
ness and for ever, take the same res- 
olution? Why not deliver thyself 
from eternal evil, and secure eternal 
good ? Why not gain the crown and 
the kingdom of heaven, and make 
thyself for ever blessed? And all 
this by having a determination so ex- 
cellent, so useful, yes, and so delight- 
ful, as that of never sinning again. 
Put an end, put an end to being thine 
own enemy; put an end to offending 

-ULllll VV -LLw J.^^ V CD tilvI/C ioVj lAvl/CXlXy « ULLL 

an end to choosing liell without Me, 


Enough of 
/Sin. 

Vieyra. 
A.D.I 608-97 



Graces and Duties. 



I rather than glory with Me : Jam am- 
\ plius noli peccare. 



\ Bearing GiYE ear, therefore, to the counsel 

i th.fi. nrnfts ' ^ ^ 

of thy God, not only reigning with 
the Father, but as thy most sweet 
friend, hanging upon the Cross ; for 
neither can He be deceived because 
He is wisdom, nor doth He desire to 
deceive thee, for whom He endured 
such ignominy and such pain. If 
any one, saith He, will come after Me, 
let him deny himself and take up his 
I cross and follow Me, Hear a counsel, 
; not a precept. A mighty labour in- 
deed ; but an incomparable reward. 
After Me, He saith. We must go af- 
ter Him, because He is the Truth, 
that we may not be deceived; through 
Him, because He is the Way, that 
we may not err ; to Him, because He 
is the Life, that we may not die. I, 
saith He, am the Way, the Truth, and 



Peter Da- 

miani. 

A.i>.1007-72 



s 



Graces and Duties. 


51 


the Life^ It follows, Let Mm deny 
himself. Our first parent, wlien lie 
had been circumscribed by prefixed 
limits of obedience, roamed forth in- 
to the open country of an evil liberty. 
He had it in command to prefer the 
Will of his Creator to his own ; but 
using, or rather abusing, his own will, 
when he desired to make himself hap- 
py, he destroyed himself. Driven, 
therefore, from that happy inherit- 
ance, he obtained exile for a country, 
death for life, ignominy for glory. 
If thou wouldest, therefore, return 


Bearing 
the Crosa. 

Peter Da- 

miani. 

A.D.1007-T2 



to thine inheritance, deny thine own 
will. 

— — • • • 

God wills that all men should be 
saved, and come to a knowledge of 
the truth ; and He guides everything 
with wisdom, as He decreed before 
the foundation of the world. High, 
indeed, are the heavens, wide is the 
earth, immeasurable is the sea, beau- 



77ie Will 
of God. 

Eligius. 
A.D.5S8-659 



52 



Graces and Duties. 



The Will tiful are the stars, but jet more in- 
of God. conceivable and glorious must He be 
fSs^659 who made tliem all; for if these visi- 
ble things are so incomj)rehensible, 
the manifold fruits of the earth, the 
beauty of flowers, the various kinds 
of beasts — if visible things are of 
such a nature, that we cannot com- 
prehend them — what idea can we 
form of tliose heavenly things which 
we cannot yet see ? Or what must 
the Creator of all these things be, at 
whose bidding all are created, by 
whose mil all are ruled? Fear Him, 
then, my brethren, above all; pray 
to Him at all times ; love Him above 
all; cling to His mercy; despair not 
of His grace; 

True vir- ViKTUE is Something other than 

tue. 

BeHhM world commonly calls by that 

A.D. 1250. name, applying it to him who can 
gracefully convey a message, carry a 



Graces and Duties. 



dish, or present a cup ; and hold or 
dispose of liis hands in a well-bred 
fashion. Behold! such virtue is a 
mockery in God's sight. For even 
a dog may be taught to hold up his 
fore-paws, and to demean himself 
with a becoming grace. It is better 
to devour half an ox on Good Fri- 
day, than to bewray a soul by false- 
hood. 

• • « 

Tell me who has shown thee how 
thou shouldst dress thy vineyards, 
and at what time thou shouldst plant 
the new vines? Who has taught 
thee that ? Thou hast seen it or 
heard it, or thou hast inquired of the 
best vine-dressers, how thou shouldst 
till thy vineyard. Why, then, art 
thou not as careful about thy soul as 
about thy vineyard ? Give heed, my 
brethren, I beseech you — there are 
two kinds of fields : the field of God, 
and the field of men ! Thy field is 



54 


Graces and Duties. 


Spiritual 
ry. 

Ocesariiis 
of Aries. 
A.D.4T0-542 


thy farm — God's field is thy soul. Is 
it just that thou shouldst till thine 
own field and let God's lie fallow ? 
Does God deserve this of us, that we 
should neglect our souls, which are 
to Him so dear ? By our husbandry, 
we shall only live a few days in this 
world; surely, then, we should ex- 
pend more pains on our souls. God 
has intrusted our souls to us, as His 
husbandry, that we should cultivate 
them with all diligence. Let us, there- 
fore, work with all our might, by 
God's help, that when God shall re- 
quire an account of His field — ^that 
is, our own souls — ^He may find the 
field well tilled and cultivated, the 
harvest ready, and no weeds amongst 
the corn. It is nothing great, nothing 
hard, that God requires of us. Eter- 
nal justice speaks to thee in thy soul, 
saying : As thou carest for thy field, 
care for thy soul ; as thou cuttest off* 
the superfluous shoots from thy vine. 



Graces and Duties. i 55 

so remove evil inclinations from thy 
soul. As lie who leaves his vine for 
a year without pruning, may indeed 
in that year obtain more abundant 
fruit, but afterwards remains without 
fruit; so he who does not prune 
away evil thoughts and inclinations 
from his soul, may, indeed, seem, by 
robbery and deceit, to receive fruit 
in this one year of earthly life ; but, 
i afterwards, he will remain barren 
throughout eternity. 



We may be humble in apparel, in 
behavior, in gestures, in words: all 
this without possessing humility of 
heart ; as the case is with dissemblers. 
But the internal humility of the heart 
cannot remain concealed. It shows 
itself outwardly in every thing, since 
it cannot appear otherwise than it is. 
True humility is known by this ; that 
they who possess it are willing to hear 



Spiritual 
Hmhand- 
ry. 

Ccesarius 
of Aries. 
A.D.470-542 



I'ru e a n d \ 
Fa he Ihi- \ 
mility. j 

Berihold. 
A.D. 1250. 



56 



Graces and Duties. 



True, and the Same j udgmeiit passed iipon tliem 
mility. wliich they pass 'upon themselves. 
Berthoid. Thev are wiUine^ to be considered as 

A.D. 1250. , . - ^ . _ 

nothing ; to be thought sinners ; and 
whatsoever good may be in them to 
have Grod praised for it. from whom 
it has all proceeded. 



A Lesson 
from the 
Crane. 

A ntony of 
Padua. 
A.D. 1195, 
1231. 



Let us, therefore, be merciful, and 
imitate the cranes, who, when they 
set off for their appointed place, fly 
up to some lofty eminence, in order 
that they may obtain a view of the 
lands which they are going to pass. 
The leader of the band goes before 
them, chastises those that fly too 
slowly, and keeps together the troop 
by his cry. As soon as he becomes 
hoarse, another takes his place ; and 
all have the same care for those that 
are weary ; so that if any one is un- 
able to fly, the rest gather together, 
and bear him up till he recovers his 



Graces and Duties. 


57 j 


strength. Nor do they take less care 
of each other when thej are on the 
ground. They diyide the night into 
watches, so that there mav be a dili- 
gent care oyer all. Those that watch 
hold a weight in one of their claws, 
so that, if they happen to sleep, it 
i falls on the ground and makes a 
! noise, and thus convicts them of 
somnolency. .... Let us, there- 
fore, be merciful as the cranes ; that, 
placing ourselyes on a lofty watch- 
tower in this life, we may look out 
both for ourselyes and others, may 
lead those that are ignorant of the 
way, and may chastise the slothful 
and negligent by our- exhortations. 
Let us succeed alternately to labour. 
Let us carry the weak and infirm, 
that they faint not in the ivay. In 
the watches of the night, let us keep 
yigil to the Lord, by prayer and 

L-UiiLt/IllUiclLiUIl. 


1 

A Lesson, 
from the 

Antony of 
Pddua. 
A.D. 1195, 
1231. 



58 



Graces and Duties. 



Th e In- 
ward Rest. 

C(28ariu8 
of Aries. 
A.D.4T0-542 



Aphor- 
isms of 
JEgidius. 

A.D. 1150. 



And since selfisliness is the root of 
all evil, and love the root of all good, 
I ask, what avails it a man to have a 
thousand branches with the loveliest 
and pleasantest flowers or fruit, if the 
true and living root is not in him ? 
For as, if the root of self-love is era- 
dicated, all its branches immediately 
wither and die away, so, on the oth- 
er hand, to him who has suffered the 
root of love to die in him, no other 
means remain of attaining eternal 
life. 



PuEiTY of heart sees Grod, devotion 
enjoys Him. 

While a man lives he must not de- 
spair of God's mercy ; for there is no 
tree so distorted that hmiian art can- 
not make it straight again — d fortiori 
there is no person in the world whose 
sins are so grievous that God cannot 
adorn him with grace and virtues. 



Graces and Duties. 


59 


All love of the creature is notliing 
in comparison with love of the Cre- 
ator. 

Only through humility can man 
attain to the knowledge of God ; the 
path upward begins downward. 

It is better to suffer a heavy wrong 
without murmuring, out of love to 
God, than to feed daily a hundred 
poor, and to fast many days far into 
the night. What does it profit a 
man to despise himself and to mortify 
his body with fasting, prayer, vigils, 
and self-scourging, if he is not able 
to endure a wrong from his neighbor, 
which would bring him greater re- 
ward than all the mortificat^'ons he 
imposes on himself. 

Should the Lord rain stones from 
heaven, they would not harm us if 
we were what we ought to be. If a 
man were what he ought to be, evil 
would for him transform itself into 
good ; for all great good and all great 


Aphor- 
isms of 

A.D. 1150. 



60 



Graces and Duties. 



evil are within tlie man, where none 
can see tliem. 



Row to fol- 
low Christ. 

Coesarius 
of Aries. 
A.D.470-542 



Wheeein shall we follow the ex- 
ample of the Lord ? Herein ; that 
we awaken the dead ? that we walk 
on the sea ? Assuredly not. But in 
this, that we become meek and low- 
ly in heart ; that we love, not only 
our friends, but our enemies. He 
that saith he abideth in Him, ought 
himself also so to walk even as he 
walked. How did Christ walk ? On 
the Cross He prayed for his enemies: 
— ^'Father, forgive them, for they 
know not what they do." They are 
deluded — possessed by the evil spirit; 
therefore we should pray rather that 
they may be delivered, than that they 
may be condemned. Fasting, watch- 
ing, prayer, alms, a celibate life, faith 
— all avail a man nothing without 
love. True love is patient in misfbr- I 



Graces and Duties. 



tunes, and moderate in good fortune ; 
is steadfast amidst severe sufferings ; 
joyful in well doing; secure in temp- 
tation ; amongst true brethren, full 
of sweetness; amongst false brethren, 
full of might ; innocent in calumny, 
sighing under its injustice ; panting 
after truth ; humbly hearkening in 
Peter, boldly rebuking in Paul, (Gal. 
2 ;) manfully confessing in the Chris- 
tian; divinely pardoning in Christ. 
True love is the soul of the whole 
Scriptures, the fruit of faith, the 
wealth of the poor, the life of the dy- 
ing. Therefore, cherish love careful- 
ly; love the Highest Good with your 
whole heart, and with all the power 
of your soul; for the Lord is gra- 
cious, and sweeter than all sweetness. 
In communion with Him, all bitter- 
ness, in converse with Him, all delu- 
sions, are kept aloof 



How to fol- 
low Christ. 

C(X' sarins 
of Aries. 
A.T).4T0-542 



62 


Grraces and Duties. 


Christ the 
Life. 

Bernard. 
A.-n. 1091, 
1153. 


Dey is all nutriment of the soul, 
if it be not anointed with this oil. 
When thou writest, nothing touches 
me, if I cannot read Jesus there. 
When thou conversest with me on 
religious subjects, nothing touches 
me, imless Jesus chimes in. But He 
is also the only true remedy. Is any 
one among you troubled ; let Jesus 
enter into his heart ; and lo ! at the 
rising light of His name, every cloud 
is dispersed, and serenity returns. 
Here is a man full of despondency, 
running to entangle himself in the 
snares of death. Let him but call 
on the name of life, and will he not 
at once recover the breath of life? 
In what man that trembled at dan- 
ger, does not the invocation of His 
name of power at once infuse confi- 
dence ? In what man that wavered 
in doubt, does not tlie light of cer- 
tainty beam forth at the invoking 



Graces and Duties. 



63 



His glorious name ? In whom, that 
grew faint-hearted in misfortune, was 
there ever lack of fortitude, when 
that name whispered, I am ivith thee ? 



See my beloved, what a message 
we bring you, — not a message from 
one from whose service you may pur- 
chase exemption, but a message from 
Him to whom you are indebted for 
His blood shed for you. My belo ved, 
we are ourselves unclean men, and 
yet we would not suffer our limbs to 
be touched by anything unclean ; 
and can we believe that the only- 
begotten Son of God will suffer us 
to approach Him with sin in our 
hearts? See, brethren, our King, 
who has deigned to send us this em- 
bassy, Himself comes to us. Let us 
then prepare Him a pure dwelling, 
that He himself may dwell in our 
body. We entreat you, dearest sons, 



Of Purity. 

Boniface. 
A.r>.6S0-755 



64 



Graces and Duties. 



Of Purity. 

Boniface. 
A.i).6S0-755 



Betraying 
Christ. 

Ogerius. 
A.D. 1200. 



that ye who are wont to fear the 
laws of the world, would also wil- 
lingly submit to the laws of our God. 
It is He who speaks to you by our 
lips — who did not withhold His 
only begotten Son from the hands of 
His persecutors, in order to admit us 
into the inheritance of His children. 
If you have learned what wonderful 
grace He has shown towards us by 
His sufferings, obey then the more 
zealously His commands, lest by our 
disobedience to His commands we 
should be guilty of ingratitude for 
His kindness. 



O WRETCHED Judas ! 0 evil con- 
fessor ! O desperate penitent ! Thou 
didst say, / have sinned in that I have 
betrayed the innocent blood : and thou 
didst hang thyself, miserable man, 
through desperation. He, as I think, 
was the son of Simon Iscariot. Si- 



Graces and Duties. 


65 


mon by interpretation is obedience. 
But wliat sort of man this Simon 
was, God knows, for I know not. 
Iscariot is a name derived from ttie 
place in wliicli he dwelt ; otherwise 
it is called Marmotes, or evil death. 
And certainly he might have a name 
derived from evil death, who per- 
ished by such an evil death. The 
devil had put it into his heart by 
suggestion to betray Christ, not be- 
lieving Him to be God. Dost not 
thou tremble, 0 Christian ; dost not 
thou tremble, 0 monk of S. Bene- 
dict, w^hen thou rememberest what 
happened to the disciple of Christ ? 
The devil put it into his heart to be- 
tray the Life ; and ha^dng betrayed 
the Life, he destroyed himself and his 
own life by the rope of despair. If 
the wolf feared not to enter into the 
flock of the Lord, and to destroy 
one out of the little number of 
twelve, what will he do with the 


Betraying 
Christ. 

Ogerius. 
A.D. 1200. 



66 


Grraces and Duties. 


Betraying 
Christ. 

Ogerius. 

A.D. 1200. 


flock committed to your pastor? 
Take heed, every one of you, breth- 
ren, that ye be not Hke Judas. 
Take heed, that ye walk circum- 
specily^ not as fools, but as wise men, 
being on your guard against the 
snares of the enemy. He put it into 



i the heart of Judas to betray the 
i Lord. What is it to betray the 
i Lord ? To sell the Lord. What 
I is it to sell the Lord ? To alienate 
i the Lord. He alienates Him who 
i departs from Him. O monk of God, 
I O disciple of Christ, hear me, hear 
i my counsel. The devil seeks to 
! draw thee forth from the flock of 
^ the Lord. See that thou consent 
not to him : see that thou believe 
I not in him. He is a liar and the 
father of it. He desires to slay thee, 
he desires to destroy thee, he desires 
to ruin thee with himself in hell. 
Beware of bags, beware of purses : 
they are the nets of the devil. Alas, 



Graces and Duties. 


67 


how many has he ruined by them, 
how many has he slain by them ! 
It is said of Judas, that he was a 
thief, and had the bag. And so 
these, while they thirst after lucre, 
hurry to destruction : while they 
lose life, they gain death. Ah, how 
many bags, how many purses there 
are in the monasteries of S. Bene- 
dict ! Ah, how many that have 
taken the habit, how many that are 
outwardly tonsured, have the purse 
in their hearts, have the bag in their 
own self-will, have the purse in mur- 
muring^ detraction, pride, envy, evil 
desires ! But remember, beloved 
brethren, that they who do such 
things, follow Judas the traitor : and 
therefore, unless they amend their 
ways, they shall not possess the 
kingdom of God. 


Betraying 
Christ. 

Ogerius. 
A.D. 1200. 



68 


Graces and Duties. 


The Wick- 
ed Priest. 

Peter of 
Blois. 

A.D. 1180. 


Cektainly a devout and prudent 
Priest, while lie stands at the Divine 
table, will think of nothing else but 
Jesus Christj and Him crucified. He 
will set before the eyes of his heart 
the humility of Christ, the patience 
of Christ, His Passion and sorrows ; 
the reproaches of Christ — the spit- 
tings, the scourging, the spear, the 
Cross, the Death ; he devoutly and 
solicitously recalls and crucifies him- 
self in the memory of the Lord's Pas- 

ilous a thing, my brethren, is the ad- 
ministration of your office! because 
ye shall have to answer not only for 
your own souls, but for the souls 
committed to your charge, when the 
Day of tremendous Judgment shall 
come ! And how shall he keep an- 
other man's conscience whose own is 
not kpT)t? T^or r-misf^ifinop is fin nbvss 

— a most obscure night : and what, j 

1 



Graces and Duties. 69 



then, of the wretched Priest who has 
undertaken this night, and to whom 
they cry, Watchman^ what of the day? 
Watchman^ what of the night? What 
is that most wretched Priest to do 
who feels himself loaded with sins, 
implicated with cares, infected with 
the filthiness of carnal desires, blind, 
bowed down, weak, straitened by a 
thousand difficulties, anxious through 
a thousand necessities, miserable with 
a thousand troubles, precipitate to 
vices, weak to virtues ? What shall 
he do — ^the son of grief — the son of 
eternal misery — who neither kindles 
the fire of love in himself, nor in oth- 
ers ? Surely he is prepared for the 
fuel and the consumption of fire ! A 
fire is kindled in the fury of the Lord; 
and it shall burn even to the nether- 
most hell. A place is appointed for 
him with everlasting burnings ; the 
worm is prepared which dieth not — 
smolce, vapour, and the vehemence 



77i6 WicJc- 
ed Priest. 

Peter of 
Blois. 

A.D. 1180. 



70 



Graces and Duties. 



The Wick- 
ed Priest. 

Peter of 
Blois. ' 
A.D. 118). 



Fidelity 
in Preach- 
ing. 

Antony of 
Padua. 
A.D. 1195, 
1231. 



of storms; horror, and a deep shade; 
the weight of chains of repentance 
that bind, that burn, and that con- 
sume not ! From which may that Fire 
deliver us Who consumes not, but 
consummates — which devours not, 
but enlightens every man tliat cometh 
into the world. May He illuminate 
us to give the knowledge of salvation 
unto His people ; Who liveth and 
reigneth ever with the Fathee and 
the Holy Ghost, God to all ages of 
ages. 

• 

The preacher must preach with 
good report and without it. But the 
Apostle says more than this: We 
must preach with fame and with in- 
famy. To preach for the sake of fame, 
this is to do as the world does ; but 
to preach as one ought, though it be 
through infamy, this is to be a preach- 
er of Chkist. 

Sowers of the Gospel, this should 



Graces and Duties. 


71 


be our aim in our sermons ; not tliat 
men should be part pleased with us, 
but that they should be part displeas- 
ed with themselves; not that our con- 
ceits should be thought by them good, 
but that their own habits should be 
thought by them bad ; their lives, 
their pastimes, their ambition, and, 
in short, all their sins. So that they 
are discontented with themselves, let 
them be discontented with us, and 
welcome. If I yet pleased men, I 
should not be the servant of Christ, 
said the greatest of all preachers, S. 
Paul. 0 let us please God, and let 
us not care a whit for the judgment 
of men! Let us remember, tliat in 
this same church, are galleries loftier 
than those which we see; We are 
made a spectacle to God — so S. Ber- 
nard reads the passage — and to angels^ 
and to men. Above the tribunes of 
kino's are the tribunes of the ansrels, 
is the tribune and the tribunal of God 


Fidelity 
in Preach- 
ing. 

Antony of 
Padua. 
A.D. 1195, 
1231. 



72 



Fidelity 
in Preach- 
ing. 

Antony of 
Padua. 
A.D. 1195, 
1231. 



The last 
Command 

Bruno of 
Aste. 

A.D. 1123. 



Graces and Duties. 



Himself, Who hears us, and Who 
will judge us. What reckoning 
can a preacher give to God in the 
Day of Judgment ? The hearer will 
saj^, They never told me ; — ^but the 
preacher ! 

The Loed Jesus came to His 
disciples, and found them sitting at 
meat ; found them eating and drink- 
ing. He sat down with them ; He 
ate. He drank with them ; that He 
might show Himself to have as- 
sumed, not a phantastical, but a true 
body, and might strengthen them by 
His Presence. He upbraided them 
for their unbelief; He confirmed 
them by His conversation. He up- 
braided them for their hardness ; He 
reprehended them for their unbelief 
For albeit that Simon Peter, and 
Mary Magdalene, and those two dis- • 
ciples to whom the Lord had ap- 
peared in the likeness of a stranger, 



1 

j Q-races and Duties. 


73 


had most certainly and firmly testified 
that He had risen, and that they had 
i seen Him, the rest gave no credence 
; to them. And what wonder, when 
they believed not even themselves, 
; and their own eyes? For Matthew, 
1 the Evangelist, relates that the eleven 
' disciples icent aivay into Galilee^ into a 
1 mountain where Jesus had appointed 
^ them : and uHien they saiu JELim^ they 
' ivorshipped Him; hut some dotd)ted. 
For they thought that they belield, 
! not a true body, but a spirit. Where- 
fore He saith, Handle Me and see; for 
a spirit hath not flesh and hones^ as ye 
see Me have. And perhaps this their 
doubt proceeded out of their intense 
love. For we do not readily believe 
that which we greatly desire. As, on 
the other hand, that which we fear, 
we easily think likely to happen. 
And He said to them, Oo ye into all 
the loorld^ and preach the Qospel to every 
creature. Before, He had said. Go not 


The last 

Command 

Bruno of 
Aste. 
A.B. 1128. 



74 Graces and Duties. 



The last 
Command 

Bruno of 
Aste. 
A.D. 1128. 



The Excel- 
lence of 
Love. 

Ccesarius 
of Aries. 
A.D.4T0-542 



into the way of the Gentiles^ and into 
any city of the Samaritans enter ye not 
For I am not sent hut unto the lost sheep 
of the House of Israel. But now He 
commands them to go into tlie wliole 
world ; in whicli tlie reprobation of 
the Jews, and the election of the Gren- 
tiles is most manifestly set forth. 
Whence also the Father saith, Desire 
of Me^ and I shall give thee the heathen 
for thine inheritxince^ and the uttermost 
parts of the earth for thy possession. 



My brethren, what is there sweet- 
er than love ? Let him who knows 
it not, taste and see. Hear what the 
Apostle says : Grod is love." What 
can be sweeter than that ? Let him 
who knows it not, hear what the 
Psalmist says, (Psalm 84 : 9,) Taste 
and see how gracious the Lord is." 
Thus God is love. He who hath love, 
God dwells in him, and he in God. 



Graces and Duties. 


75' 


If thou hast love, thou hast Grod; and 
if thou hast God, what canst thou 
lack ? Dost thou indeed believe that 
he is rich whose chest is full of gold, 
and he not rich whose soul is full of 
God ? But it is not so, my brethren ; 
he alone is rich in whom God has 
graciously vouchsafed to dwell. How 
can the meaning of the Holy Scrip- 
tures remain hidden from thee, if 
Love, that is, God Himself, inspires 
thee ? What good works wilt thou 
not be able to accomplish, if thou 
carriest in thy heart the spring of all 
good works ? What adversaries wilt 
thou fear, if thou art honoured to 
have God the Lord within thee ? As 
long as the root in thy soul is not 
changed, thou canst not bring forth 
good fruit : in vain dost thou prom- 
ise good things with thy mouth ; thou 
canst not accomplish them, as long as 
thou hast not the root of all good in 
thy heart. One root is planted by 


The Excel- 
lence of 
Love. 

Ccesarius 
of Aries. 
A.D.470-542 



I 

76 1 Grraces and Duties. 


lence of 
Lave. 

CcBsaHus 
of Aisles. 
A.D.470-542 


Christ in the hearts of believers, the 
other by the evil spirit in the hearts 
of the haughty ; and thus the one is 
planted in heaven, the other in hell. 
But many will say, If this root is 
planted in the hearts of believers, 
and believers still seem to be on 
earth, how then can this root be 
planted in heaven ?" Wouldst thou 
know? Because the hearts of believ- 
ers are in heaven, in that they are 
daily lifted up to heaven ; for when 
the priest says, ''Lift up your hearts," 
the Church calmly responds, — " Our 
hearts are above with the Lord;'' 
because the Apostle says, Our con- 
versation is in heaven." God does 
not send u.s wearisome journeys to 
the east or west to obtain our salva- 
tion ; He leads us back to ourselves: 
what he has bestowed on us by his 
grace, that he requires of us ; for he 
says this is the Gospel : The king- 
dom of God is within you." Again ; 



Graces and Duties. 



77 



the Lord has not said: ^'Go to the 
eastj and seek righteousness. Sail to 
the west to obtain the forgiveness of 
your sins." But what saith He? 
/'Forgive thine enemies, and thou 
shalt be forgiven. Give, and it shall ; 
be given unto thee." God requires I 
nothing from thee which lieth outside ^ 
thee. God leads thee to thyself and : 
thine own conscience. In thyself' 
has He placed that which He requires 
of thee. Thou hast no need to seek 
remedies for thy wounds afar. Thou 
may est, if thou wilt, find the forgive* ' 
ness of thy sins in the recesses of th)^ \ 
heart. 

My flesh and my heart failetli ; hut 
God is the strength of my hearty and my 
portion forever. Blessed and holy 
would I call him, to whom it is 
. granted in this mortal life rarely, oc- 
1 casionally, or even but once, and that 
I only for a moment, to exjDerience 



The Eiecel- 
lence of 
Love. 

Casarins 
of Aries. 
A.i).470-r)42 



All in 
God. 

Bernard. 
A.B. 1091, 
1153. 



78 



Graces and Duties. 



AU in 
God. 

Bernard. 

A.T). 1091, 

1153. 



Dying 
Prayer of 
Eligina. 

Nov. 30, 
A.D. 659. 



something of this kind ; for so to lose 
thyself, thine so to renounce thy- 
self, this is heavenly converse, and 
not feeling, after the ordinary man- 
ner of men. As the glory of Grod is 
the end of all creation, so the point 
towards which all jjrogress in reli- 
gion strives, is to do all things only 
for God's sake. This ground-tone of 
the soul is, properly speaking, trans- 
formation into the image of God. 
But here below man can sustain him- 
self but for a few moments in these 
heights. 

Lord, now lettest Thou Thy ser- 
vant depart in peace, according to 
Thy word. 0 remember that Thou 
hast formed me from clay. Enter 
not into judgment with Thy servant, 
for in Thy sight shall no man living 
be justified." Eemember me. Thou 
who only art without sin, Christ the 
Saviou.r of the world, take me out of 



Grraces and Duties. 


79 


the body of this death, and save me 
in Thy heavenly kingdom. Thou 
hast ever been my guardian, into Thy 
hands I commend my spirit. I know 
that I deserve not to see thy face. 
But Thou knowest that my hope has 
always been in Thy mercy, and that 
I have clung firmly to Thee in faith, 
and in the confession of Thy name I 
spend my last breath. Eeceive me, 
then, according to Thy great mercy, 
and let me not be ashamed of my ex- 
pectation. Let Thy gracious hand 
protect me, and lead me into the 
place of refreshment; be it but the 
meanest dwelling which Thou hast 
prepared for Thy servants and those 
that fear Thee. 

And whilst praying, he departed. 


Dying 
Prayer oj 
Eligius. 

N'ov. 80, 
A.B. 659. 



The Heavenly Glory. 



Angey winter, parching summer, 

There relax their bhistering ; 
And sweet roses, ever blooming, 

Make an everlasting spring ; 
Snowy lily, blushing crocus, 

And the balsam perfuming. 

Here they lire in endless being, 

Passingness has passed away ; 
Here they bloom, they thrive, they flourish, 

For decayed is all decay : 
Lasting energy hath swallowed 

Darkling death's malignant sway. 







The Heavenly Glory. 

It is enough, Jesus is yet alive ! 
K He lives, I live, since my soul 
hangs upon Him. Nay, when He is 
my life. He my sufficiency, what can 
be wanting to me if Jesus is yet 
alive ? Let everything else be lack- 
ing ; it matters not to me, if Jesus 
be yet alive. Let me, if it so please 
Him, be wanting to myself ; it is 
enough, so long as He is living, 
though it be but for Himself. When 
the love of Chkist has thus absorbed 
the whole affection of a man, that, 
negligent and unmindful of himself, 
he cares for nothing but Jesus 
Cheist, and the things which are of 
Jesus Christ, then at length, as I 
think, love is made perfect in him. 


Jesus 
Lives. 

Guarric. 
A.D. 1150. 



84 



The Heavenly Grlorv. 



Jesus 
Lives. 



Guarric. 
A.D. 1 150. 



To him who is thus affected, poverty 
is not burdensome ; he feels not in- 
juries, he smiles at reproaches, he 
despises losses, he thinks death to be 
gain ; nay, rather, he does not con- 
sider it death, since he knows that 
he is rather passing from death to 
life. 



Christ's 
Victory 
over 
Death. 

Ivo of 
Chartres. 
A.D. 1040, 
1115. 



To-day, brethren, the victory of 
; Cheist is complete : to-day His tri- 
\ umphal banners are set up : hell, 
I with its prince, grieves for its spolia- 
tion : the heavenly host rejoices in 
; the destruction of its foes. To-day 
I that Flesh which has been raised 
1 from the earth is set at the right 
I hand of the Father, because it has 
! been exalted above all things, and 
' every principality and power is 
' bowed before Him. To-day that 
; new way of which the Apostle 
speaks is opened to us, because, by 
the Flesh of Christ, the gate of hea- 



The Heavenly Glory. 



85 



veil, througli which no flesh had 
ever passed before, was unlocked ; 
and that new way is by the same 
Apostle called a living way^ as hav- 
ing been prepared for the living 
members of Christ who should en- 
ter in by it. To-day the opening of 
that book is accomplished, which no 
man could open except the Lamb that 
was slatUj since its mysteries are re- 
vealed, when those sayings which 
are found in the law and the Pro- 
phets concerning Christ, are to-day 
complete. Christ descended that 
He might become a participator of 
our nature ; He afterwards ascended 
that He might make us participators 
of glory. When He descended, by 
His conversation in this world, and 
His visible miracles. He fed, as it 
were, infants with milk ; when He 
ascended. He gave gifts to men. That 
they being taught by these, and edu- 
cated as it were to the full streng-th 



8 



86 



Christ's 
Victory 
over 
Death. 

Tvo of 
Chartres. 
A.D. 1040, 
1115. 



The Heavenly Glory. 



of men, might no longer desire His 
temporal vision; bnt might study 
to follow Him with all the yearning 
of their hearts to that place whither 
He has gone before. Wherefore, 
since we are deprived of His tempo- 
ral presence, let us hasten with all our 
strength to His eternal vision ; let us 
say to Him as the Psalmist saith, My 
heart hath talked of Thee : seek ye My 
Face : Thy Face^ Lord^ will I seek. 
For the whole dispensation of the hu- 
manity of Christ proposed nothing 
else, did nothing else, but to direct 
our endeavours to heaven, and bring 
us, when the time of our mortal- 
ity shall be accomplished, to the 
open vision of Himself ; that having 
brought us there, He might satiate 
us with the eternal glory of His 
I countenance, because, as the Apostle 
testifies, we shall see Him as He is. 
I These are the good things of Jerusa- 
j lem, which eye hath not seeUy nor ea.r 



The Heavenly Glory. 



87 



heard, neither hojth it entered into the 

heart of men to conceive Let 

us liunger and tMrst for these things, 
because it was to this end that the 
great High Priest, oiir Fore-runner, 
entered into the true Holy of Holies, 
ascended to the right hand of the 
Father, to confirm the hope of His 
members, that the humble flock shall 
follow there where it believes its 
Shepherd to have gone first. 



In" that day, we shall arise and 
shine like the sun, that is, in the 
glory of our Eedeemer, Jesus Christ, 
who is the Son of the living God, as 
joint heirs with Christ, renewed in 
His image; for by Him, through 
Him, and with Him, shall we reign. 
That sun which we see, rises daily 
for us, by God's command; but it 
will never reign, and its brightness 
will not last forever. All those also 



The Heavenly Gloiy. 



TIieEesur- 
rection. \ 

Patrick of 
Ireland. 

A.D. m 



Heaven 
our Coun- 
try. 

Bede. 
A.D.672-T35 



who worship it will (unhappy ones!) 
draw down punishment on them- 
selves. But we pray in faith to 
Christy the true Sun, that will never 
set, and he also who doeth His will 
shall never set, but shall live forever, 
as Christ lives forever, and reigns 
with God, the Almighty Father, and 
the Holy Spirit, from everlasting to 
everlasting. 



Let us consider that Paradise is 
OUT country, as well as theirs : and 
so we shall begin to reckon the Pat- 
riarchs as our fathers. Whj- do we 
not, then, hasten and run, that we 
may behold olir Country, and salute 
our parents ? A great multitude of 
dear ones is there expecting us : a 
vast and mighty crowd of parents, 
brothers, and children, secure now 
of their own safety, anxious yet for 
our salvation, longs that we may 



The Heavenly Griory. 



89 



come to their sight and embrace — ^to 
that joy which will be common to iis 
and to them — to that pleasure expect- 
ed by OTir celestial fellow-servants, as 
well as ourselves — to that full and 

perpetual felicity If it be a 

pleasure to go to them, let us eager- 
ly and covetously hasten on our way, 
that we msij soon be with them, and 
soon be with Christ ; that we may 
have Him as our Gruide in this jour- 
ney, Who is the Author of Salvation, 
the Prince of Life, the Giver of Glad- 
ness, and Who liveth and reigneth 
with God the Father Almighty, and 
with the Holy Ghost. 



Heaven 
our Couii- 
try, 

Bede. 
A.D.672-:35 



•With how joyous a breast the 
heavenly city receives those that re- 
turn from fight ! How happily she 
meets them that bear the trophies of 
the conquered enemy ! With trium- 
phant ]iien, women also come, who 



The Rea- 
venly Wel- 
come. 

Bede. 
A.D.672-735 



90 



The Heavenly Glory. 



The Ilea- 
venly Wel- 
come. 

Bede. 
A.D.672-735 



rose superior botli to tliis world and 
to their sex, doubling tlie glory of 
tlieir warfare ; virgins with youths, 
who surpassed their tender years by 
their virtues. Yet not they alone, 
but the rest of the multitude of the 
faithful shall also enter the palace of 
that eternal court, who in peaceful 
union have observed the heavenly 
commandments, and have maintain- 
ed tlie purity of the faith. 

Now, therefore, brethren, let us en- 
ter the way of life ; let us return to 
the celestial city, in which we are 
citizens, enrolled and inscribed. For 
we are no more strangers and foreign- 
erSy hut felhw-citizens of the saints^ and 
of the household of God — heirs of God, 
and joint-heirs with Christ. The gates 
of this city are opened to us by forti- 
tude ; and faith will afford us a broad 
entrance. Let u.3 consider, therefore, 
the felicity of that heavenly habita- 
tion, in so far as it is possible to con- 



I The Heavenly Glory. 


91 


sider it: for to speak the truth, no 
words of man are sufficient to com- 
prehend it. 

■ • « « 

All shall then arise, as the Apos- 
tle saith, We shall all rise^ hut lue shall 
not all he changed^ because the just 
only will be changed into glory; then 
as the Truth saith, The loiched shall 
go aivay into everlasting punishment^ 
hut the righteous into life eternal. Then 
shall the righteous shine forfh as the sun 
in the kingdom of their Father ; there 
shall be life with God, without the 
fear of death ; there, unending light, 
and never darkness; there, safety, 
which no sickness disturbs; there, 
unfailing fulness for them who now 
hunger and thirst after righteousness ; 
there, happiness which no fear cor- 
rupts; there, joy which no sorrow 
consumes ; there, eternal glory with 
angels and archangels, with patri- 


ble Glory. 

Boniface. 
A.D.680-r54 



1 

92 


The Heavenly Griory. 


Thelneffa- 
ble Glory. 

Boniface. 
A.D.680-754 


archs and propliets, with confessors, 
and with the holy virgins w^ho follow 
Christ whithersoever He goeth ; 
there are things greater and better, 
sweeter and more pleasant, more de- 
lightful and more lovely, which are | 
given to the saints, than can be spo- ' 
ken or thought: because, as saith the 
Apostle, Uye hath not seen, nor ear 
heard, neither hath it entered into the 
heart of man to conceive^ the joys which 
Ood hath prepared for them that hve 
Him: to which joys may He bring 
you Who created you. These things, 
my little children, — ^these things, my 
beloved brethren, — which I, a sinner, 
have humbly suggested to you by 
my words, may the Almighty Trin- 
ity, Father, Son, and Holy Gthost, 
speak more savingly by His power 
into your senses and hearts: Who 
liveth and reigneth forever and ever. 
Amen. 



1 The Heavenly Griory. 


93 


Of tliat city is written, in a certain 
place, thus : That grief, and sorrow, 
; and crying, shall flee away. What 
can be happier than that life, where 
there is no fear of poverty — no weak- 
ness of disease ; where none can be 
hurt, none can be angry; where none 
can envy, none can be impure ; where 
none can be tormented with the de- 
sire of honour, or the ambition of 
power ? No fear there of the Devil ; 
no snares there of e^al spirits; no 
terror there of hell ; no death there, 
either of soul or body, but a life 
blessed in the gift of immortality. 
No discord there forever, but all 
things in harmony — all things in 
agreement : because there will be 
one concord of all saints — one peace, 
and one joy. Tranquil are all things 
there, and quiet. Perpetual is the 
splendour there : not such as the sun- 
light which now is, but both more 


The Per- 
fection of 
Bliss. 

Bede. 

A.D.672-735 

i 



94 


The Heavenly Glory. 


The Per- 
fection of 
Bliss. 

Bede. 
A.D.672-T35 


glorious and more happy ; because 
that city, as we read, needeth not the 
light of the sun: for the Lord God 
giveth it light^ and its Brightness is 
the Lamh, There, they that he ivise 
shall shine as the brightness of the 
firmament; and they that turn many 
to righteousness^ as the stars forever 
and ever. 

Wherefore, there is no night there, 
— ^no darkness, no gathering of 
clouds, no asperity of cold or heat ; 
but such will be the nature of things 
as neither hath eye seen, nor the ear 
heard^ neither hath it entered into the 
heart of man except of those who are 
counted worthy to inherit it : whose 
names are written in the Book of 
Life ; who have both washed their 
robes in the blood of the Lamb, and 
are before the Throne of God, and 
serve Him day and night. There is 
no old age there, nor misery of old 
age ; while all come to a perfect man, 



The Heavenly Glory. 


95 


to the measure of the stature of the ful- 
ness of Christ. 

But above all these things, is the 
being associated with the companies 
of Angels and Archangels, Thrones 
and Dominations, Principalities and 
Powers, and the enjoyment of the 
watches of all the celestial virtues ; to 
behold the squadrons of the saints, 
adorned with stars; the Patriarchs, 
glittering with faith; the Prophets, 
rejoicizig in hope; the Apostles who, 
j in the twelve tribes of Israel, shall 
1 judge the whole world; the Martyrs, 
decked with the purple diadems of 
1 victory ; the Virgins, also, with their 
1 wreaths of beauty. But of the King, 
1 Who is in the midst, no words are 
1 able to speak. That beauty, that vir- 
1 tue, that glory, that magnificence, 
that majesty, surpasses every expres- 
sion — every sense of the human mind. 
For it is greater than the glory of all 
the saints, but to attain to that ineff- 


Tlie Per- 
fpction of 
Bliss. 

Bede. 
^.D.672-735 



96 


The Heavenly Glory. 


The Per- 
fection of 
Bliss. 

Bede. 


able sight, and to be made radiant 
with the splendour of His Counten- 
ance. It were worth while to suffer 



1 torments every day — ^it were worth 
j while to endure hell itself for a sea- 
i son, so that we might behold Cheist 
I coming in glory, and be joined to 
the number of the saints. Is it not, 
then, well worth while to endure 
earthly sorrows, that we may be 
! partakers of such good, and of such 
glory ? 

• • • — - 

Let your mind be raised to those 
good things which are promised in 
our Country, that while in exile you 
may set but little store by whatever 
roughness annoys you in the Way. 
When we are looking for a weight 
of shining gold, the labour of a jour- 
ney is lightened. When a crown is 
proposed for the reward, the course 
of the race is cheerfully run. Think, 
therefore, how blessed is he, who. 



Heavenly 
Treasures. 

Peter Da- 
QYiiani. 
A.D.I 007-T2 



The Heavenly G-lory. 


97 


when such a multitude of the repro- 
bate are shut out, himself is counted 
worthy to enter into the nuptial feast 
with the glorious company of the 
elect ! Think of what dignity it is 
even to stand before the Creator of 
all things, to contemplate the beauty 
of most present truth ; face to face, to 
behold God ; to have a share in the 
choirs of the angels; where all are 
so filled with present joy as never to 
be anxious touching future adversity; 
where, while the quiet mind enjoys 
the pleasantness of incircumscript 
light, it rejoices also ineffably in the 
reward of its fellow-citizens. There, 
while they thirst for, they drink — 
while they drink, they thirst for — 
the fountain of life; because there 
neither can avidity beget passion, or 
satiety turn into disgust. And man- 
ifestly from this cause, because they 
ever stand in the presence of the 

I Author of Life, they derive the whole 

1 


Heavenly 
Treasures. 

Peter Da- 

miani. 

A.i).1007-72 



9 



98 I The Heavenly Glory. 



Heanenly 
Treasures. 

Peter Da- 

miani. 

A.D.1C07-72 



strengtli of tlieir blessedness. Hence 
the eternal greenness of flourisliing 
Youtli ; hence the loveliness of beau- 
ty and the indeficient vigour of per- 
fect health. It is from that fountain 
of eternity that they obtain the pow- 
er of living everlastingly and rejoic- 
ing ineffably : and, which is far more 
excellent, of attaining to the perfect 
similitude of their Creator. For, as 
John the Evangelist testifies, When 
He shall appear we shall he like Him^ 
for we shall see Sim as He is. 



Reward of 
the Right- 
eous. 

JSede. 
A.D. 672-735 



What, beloved brethren, will be 
that glory of the righteous ? What 
that great gladness of the saints, 
when every face shall shine as the 
sun ; when the LoBD shall begin to 
count over in distinct orders His peo- 
ple, and to receive them into the king- 
dom of His Father, and to render 
to each the rewards promised to their 



The Heavenly Glory. 99 



service and to their works, things hea- 
venly^ for things earthly ; things eter- 
nal^ for things temporal; a great re- 
ward for a little labour; to introduce 
the saints to the vision of His Fath- 
er's glory; and to make them sit 
down in heavenly places^ to the end 
that GrOD may be all in all ; and to 
bestow on them that love Him that 
eternity which He hath promised to 
them — that immortality for which He 
has redeemed them by the quickqji- 
ing of His own Blood ; lastly, to re- 
store them to Paradise, and to open 
the kingdom of heaven by the faith 
and verity of His promise. 



Reward of 
the Bight- 
eoxLS. 



A..D.6T2-735 



The Lord said unto my Lord^ Sit 
Thou on My Eight Hand, The Eight 
Hand of God, is beatitude mtliout 
interruption ; glory without end ; 
pleasure without corruption ; health 
without sickness ; concord without 



The Right 
Hand of 
God. 

Peter of 

Chartres. 

A.B.1100-S7 



100 



The Heavenly Glory. 



The Right 
Hand of 
God. 

Peter of 
Chartres. 
A.D.1100-S7 



Joys of 
Hemen. 

Peter Da- 

miani. 

A.D.1007-72 



bitterness ; peace without rancour ; 
tranquillity without commotion ; 
eternity without yariation. This is 
the Eight Hand of God : for in that 
Eight Hand there is as full delight 
as here is abundance of affliction and 
misery. This is the Eight Hand 
which yet we possess not — which 
yet we even know not ; seeing not 
so much the admirable glory of the 
right, as the miserable affliction of 
the left. 



Theee the secrets of each are 
manifest to the eyes of all. There 
the hearts of all, joined together in 
the union of mutual love, are severed 
by no variety, but are perfectly 
made one in the ardour of a com- 
mon will. With us, when one festi- 
val passes, another comes not ; there, 
the joy of all solemnities is ever 
heaped together, because they are 



The Heavenly Glory. 


101 


present and assist, wlio are them- 
selves the cause of our feasts. With 
them is no ignorance, with them is 
no impossibility ; because in the wis- 
dom to which they are united, they 
know all things ; in the Omnipotent 
they can do all things. There, with 
open face, we shall behold how the 
Father ineffably begets the Soi^, 
how the Holy GtHOST proceeds from 
both. There we shall see how He, 
Who is absent nowhere, can be 
everywhere, not partially, but whol- 
ly ; how he can attend to each event 
as if He had no concern with all, 
can attend to all, as if He had no 
concern with each : how He Who is 
the highest in heavenly places, sus- 
tains the foundations of the abyss ; 
how He Who penetrates the inner 
parts of the world, can surround ex- 
terior creation. There, in those mea- 

VXW W o VV lllV^IJ. die O V Ol LlCv^ivCH. IJJ. LLIC 

beauty of spring, tlie snowy lily 


Joys of 
Heaven, 

Peter Da- 

miani. 

A.D.1007-72 

1 



102 



The Heavenly Griory. 



Joy 8 of 
Heaven. 

Peter Da- 

miani. 

A.D.lOOT-72 



never dies off, the purple rose and 
the crocus never fade. And surely, 
0 heavenly Jerusalem, there is in- 
comparably more of everlasting 
blessedness in thee, than the human 
heart can conceive : and the human 
heart can conceive more than can 
be expressed by any words. 



Hildebert. 
A.D. KioT, 
1134 



Mine be Sion's habitation, 
Sion, David's sure foundation : 
Formed of old by light's Creator, " 
Reached by Him, the Mediator : 
An Apostle guards the portal 
Denizened by forms immortal, 
On a jasper pavement builded, 
By its Monarch's radiance gilded. 
Peace there dwelleth uninvaded, 
Spring perpetual, light unfaded : 
Odours rise with airy lightness ; 
Harpers strike their harps of brightness ; 
None one sigh for pleasure sendeth ; 
None can err, and none ofFendeth ; 



The Heavenly Glory. | 103 

All, partakers of one nature, ; midebert 

Grow in Christ to equal stature. JJ|^^ 

Home celestial ! Home eternal ! 

Home upreared by power Supernal ! ! 

Home, no change or loss that fearest, ' 

From afar my soul Thou cheerest : | 

Thee it seeketh, Thee requireth, • ! 

Thee affecteth, Thee desireth, ■ 

But the gladness of Thy nation, 

But their fulness of salvation, 

Vainly mortals strive to show it ; 

They — and they alone — -can know it, 

The redeemed from sin and peril, | 

They who walk thy streets of beryl ! 1 

Grant me, Saviour, with Thy Blessed, 

Of Thy Rest to be possessed. 

And, amid the joys it bringeth. 

Sing the song that none else singeth ! 



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